asian shares rose broadly thursday, as global investors chose to focus on the upsides of a donald trump presidency after a sharp selloff in the region the previous day. japan<u+2019>s nikkei stock average gained 6.7% on thursday, its biggest single-day gain since feb. 15, more than making up for wednesday<u+2019>s 5.4% fall. korea<u+2019>s kospi added 2.3% and singapore<u+2019>s straits times index was higher by 1.5%. <u+201c>his victory surprised everyone but i think people noticed a reconciliatory tone in his speech,<u+201d> said alex furber, senior client services executive at cmc markets. <u+201c>analysts are scratching their heads but i think the key now will be with what trump actually does versus what he has said.<u+201d> in australia, the s&p/asx 200 gained 3.3%, led by commodity stocks as prices recovered, with iron ore surging 4.7% to its highest level year to date. among key australian resources firms, bhp billiton and rio tinto gained 8.2% each. the strength in asian equities on thursday came as stocks on wall street notched firm gains overnight, lifted by hopes that mr. trump<u+2019>s plan to cut corporate taxes and ease rules regarding the repatriation of firms<u+2019> overseas cash will boost the u.s. economy . meanwhile, japanese stocks surged, with analysts noting that mr. trump<u+2019>s possible push on infrastructure spending and other initiatives could benefit local infrastructure companies , as well as industrial-robot and electronic-parts makers. industrial giant hitachi was up 10.6%, robot maker fanuc was up 7.2%, and honda motor surged 9%. <u+201c>there is a tide of positive assessment of mr. trump<u+2019>s economic policies,<u+201d> said takashi ito, a strategist at nomura securities. <u+201c>we aren<u+2019>t sure if he can do everything he has said he would, but if some of that materializes, that<u+2019>d be good news for the u.s. economy,<u+201d> he said. japanese life insurers also benefited as the country<u+2019>s government-bond yields rose, tracking gains in the u.s. higher bond yields help insurers improve profitability. dai-ichi life holdings rose 11.6% and t&d holdings surged 13.1%. in u.s. trading on wednesday, stock markets reversed earlier flips to end up with the s&p 500 closing up 1.1% and the dow jones industrial average rising 1.4%. traders also shrugged off earlier worries over mr. trump<u+2019>s tough rhetoric on china , with the shanghai composite index ending up 1.4%, and hong kong<u+2019>s hang seng index closed up 1.9% in late afternoon trade. in hong kong, shares of china vanke closed up 4.4%, having earlier surged as much as 5.8%, after rival china evergrande further raised its stake in the chinese developer. evergrande<u+2019>s growing stake in vanke comes amid a prolonged shareholder tussle for control in the chinese developer, which is at the center of a takeover battle initiated by less-known baoneng group. but concerns over the outlook of the u.s. market capped gains among hong kong stocks with heavy u.s. exposure. blue-chip li & fung , which sources goods for key u.s. retailers, erased gains made in morning trade and closed down 0.8%. the stock had fallen 4.5% on wednesday. analysts say the markets will now refocus on the federal reserve<u+2019>s action in december. market expectations of a u.s. interest-rate rise next month has given way to doubts of any increase at all this year, following the trump victory. <u+201c>i am off the election now,<u+201d> said stephen innes, head of trading for the asia pacific region at currency broker oanda in singapore. <u+201c>i am certainly changing my december fed hike view from a certainty to a 50:50 chance.<u+201d> <u+2014>saurabh chaturvedi, rhiannon hoyle, joanne chiu and robb m. stewart contributed to this article. corrections & amplifications: japan<u+2019>s nikkei stock average gained 6.1% in early afternoon trading thursday, its biggest single-day gain since feb. 15. an earlier version of this article incorrectly stated it was the biggest gain in two months. (nov. 10) write to kenan machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com and kosaku narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com
asian shares rebound as investors see hope in trump win - wsj
kenan machado kosaku narioka