Stocks in Asia mostly posted positive results on Wednesday, pointing to a positive conclusion to what's been a brutal October for shares.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 leaped 463.17 points, or 2.2%, to 21,920.46. The Japanese yen traded at 113.19 against the U.S. dollar after weakening from levels around 112.3 in the previous session.
Shares of Sony jumped 4.7% after the company lifted its annual profit forecast by 30% after a strong second-quarter.
The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady and cut its price forecasts on Wednesday. In a widely expected move, the Japanese central bank kept its short-term interest rate target at minus 0.1% and a pledge to guide 10-year government bond yields around zero percent.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index regained 394.16 points, or 1.6%, to 24,979.69
Korea rose, with shares of heavyweight Samsung Electronics rising 0.1%. The stock's move came following the release of a record quarterly profit.
Australian markets moved up as the energy sector advanced 1.4% and materials gained 0.2%
The heavily weighted financial sub-index rose 0.9% with the shares of Australia's so-called Big Four banks seeing gains. Among those, Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) rose 1.1%despite earlier reporting a 5% decline in full-year cash profit.
The Australian dollar was at $0.7093 U.S., strengthening from levels just below $0.706 seen yesterday.
CHINA
The CSI 300 gained 43.56 points, or 1.4%, to 3,153.82
The moves higher in mainland China came despite the country reporting lower-than-expected manufacturing growth in October.
Chinese official manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was 50.2 — lower than the 50.6 that analysts expected in a poll. The official manufacturing PMI had been 50.8 in September.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.
In other markets
In Singapore, the Straits Times STI index recovered 52.35 points, or 1.8%, to 3,153.82
In Taiwan, the Taiex index sprang forward 276.02 points, or 2.9%, to 9,802.13
In Korea, the Kospi index jumped 15 points, or 0.7%, at 2,029.69
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 advanced 103.93 points, or 1.2%, to 8,752.31
In Australia, the ASX 200 took on 25.21 points, or 0.4%, to 5,830.31
