Asia markets advanced on Wednesday, extending a global rally that pushed major U.S. indexes to records amid expectations of further easing from Japan and the resolution of some concerns over the U.K. political muddle.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 jumped another 135.78 points, or 0.8 %, to 16,231.42
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index added 97.63 points, or 0.5%, to 21,322.37
Japanese stocks got a boost from a weaker yen amid expectations that a double-measure of fiscal and monetary easing was in the cards after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition won a landslide victory in upper house elections over the weekend.
Abe pledged a fresh round of fiscal stimulus spending following his election victory and analysts broadly expect the Bank of Japan would again turn on the monetary policy spigots.
That helped to weaken the Japanese yen, with the U.S. dollar fetching 104.31 yen on Wednesday after trading near the 100 handle late last week. The currency pair was off an earlier high of 104.88.
The yen's relative weakness gave export stocks in Japan a boost, with shares of Toyota up 3.4% Nissan higher by 1.1% and Toshiba adding 2.32%. Sony shares fell 2.1%, after retracing earlier gains of more than 1%.
In company news, Nintendo shares fell 4.4% on Wednesday, after gaining some 53% in three sessions since the release of the wildly popular Pokémon Go app in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand
Australian markets also surged, boosted by gains in the energy, materials and financials sub-indexes.
Mining stocks in the country were mostly higher after iron ore prices rose more than 6% to $58.80 U.S. a tonne overnight. BHP Billiton was up 3.3% while Fortescue added 5.5% and Rio Tinto was up 2.8%
In other markets
The Shanghai CSI 300 eked up 9.69 points, or 0.3%, to 3,282.87
The Taiex Index in Taiwan gained 16.29 points, or 0.2%, to 8,857.75
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index gained 8.83 points, or 0.3%, to 2,910.65
In Korea, the Kospi added 14.32 points, or 0.7%, to 2,005.55
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 dropped 15.14 points, or 0.2%, to 7,064.32
The ASX 200 improved 35.32 points, or 0.7%, to 5,388.54
