Beijing, China (BBN)-Chinese shares led gains across Asia’s stock markets after President Xi Jinping made positive comments about the economy’s growth.
The Shanghai Composite closed up 4.31 per cent at 3,459.64, reports BBC.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed up 2.15 per cent at 23,053.57.
State media reported that Mr Xi said China could maintain annual growth of about 7 per cent over the next five years, but there were uncertainties such as weak global trade and high domestic debt.
Elsewhere in Asia, investor appetite picked up on the debut of Japan Post – the world’s biggest share-offering this year.
Japan Post and its banking and insurance units started trading in Tokyo after an initial public offering (IPO) topped $11.5bn (£7.4bn).
It’s the biggest debut since Alibaba’s $25bn initial share offering last year,
Shares in the parent company Japan Post Holdings closed up 20 per cent on Wednesday, while shares of Japan Post Bank ended 15 per cent higher and Japan Post Insurance soared 56 per cent.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed up 1.3 per cent at 18,926.91.
Shares in Takata fell more than 13 per cent after the troubled airbag maker agreed to pay a $70m fine to US regulators and Honda, its biggest client, said it would no longer use the airbags in its new cars.
At the close of trading in Tokyo, Honda – which is Japan’s third-largest carmaker – reported a rise in second quarter profits, helped by increased sales in North America.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 share index closed flat at 5,242.3, paring earlier gains after energy shares rose on the rebound in oil prices.
Crude oil prices surged 4 per cent overnight when US gasoline and diesel rallied following an outage on a key pipeline system.
In South Korea, the Kospi index finished up 0.2 per cent at 2,052.77.
BBN/SK/AD
