TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian shares rose on Wednesday on the back of firmer Wall Street earnings while expectations for increased Chinese stimulus helped take the edge off wider concerns about the worsening Sino-U.S. trade dispute.
People walk past an electronic board showing Japan's Nikkei average outside a brokerage in Tokyo, Japan October 11, 2017. REUTERS/Toru Hanai/File Photo
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.22 percent while Japan’s Nikkei ticked up 0.05 percent.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 rose 0.28 percent to 2,858, which is just 14 points, or about 0.5 percent, below its record high marked in January.
A strong second-quarter earnings season fueled optimism about U.S. economic strength. S&P 500 firms saw a 23.5 percent rise in their April-June profits, according to Thomson Reuters data.
Against this backdrop, the CBOE volatility index, a measure of investors’ expectation on U.S. share price volatilities and often viewed as a gauge of anxiety in financial markets, fell to a seven-month low of 10.93.
Tesla jumped 11 percent after Chief Executive Elon Musk said he was considering taking the electric car maker private.
In China, share prices rebounded on Tuesday following a heavy four-day selloff partly as infrastructure firms were bolstered by expectations of increased spending on public works projects.
“China’s apparent policy shift from structural reforms to short-term policy support appears to be starting to give some support to other major markets,” said Chotaro Morita, chief fixed income strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities.
“Yet the reason they have to do so is escalating trade tensions so you can’t expect much upside. On the other hand, a boost to the U.S. economy from tax cuts is peaking out soon. In coming months, the focus will be how markets will price in
