Stock market today: Global shares track Wall Street rally, led by a 2.4% jump in Tokyo
HONG KONG (AP) — World shares advanced Wednesday, led by a 2.4% rally for Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index that was powered by strong gains for semiconductor makers.
European markets opened higher. Germany’s DAX was up 0.4% to 18,200.49 and the CAC 40 in Paris edged less than 0.1% higher to 8,109.21. In London, the FTSE 100 rose 0.4% to 8,078.50.
The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.2% and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 gained more than 900 points to close at 38,460.08.
Shares in computer chip company Renesas Electronics Corp. jumped 10.5%, while rival Tokyo Electronic surged 7.1%.
Investors are watching to see how Japan's central bank and its Finance Ministry react to prolonged weakness in the yen, which has been trading at its lowest level in 34 years, at a policy meeting that begins Thursday.
The U.S. dollar rose to 154.93 Japanese yen on Wednesday from 154.82 yen late Tuesday. The euro fell to $1.0690 from $1.0699.
“Market participants will be closely monitoring updates for any indications of how the Bank of Japan might address foreign exchange pressures during this week’s policy meeting,” Anderson Alves of ActivTrades said in a commentary.
Shares in Greater China also rallied.
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong added 2.1% to 17,176.31, while the Hang Seng Tech Index gained 3.4%. Chinese artificial intelligence company Sensetime Group’s shares surged 31.2% after it released the latest version of its SenseNova generative AI model on Tuesday.
The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.8% to 3,044.82.
Taiwan’s Taiex gained 2.7%.
In South Korea, the Kospi added 2% to 2,675.75, led by a 4% gain in heavyweight Samsung Electronics.
Australia’s...