Asian markets moved skyward on Wednesday, following on U.S. gains following remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen. Shares of Toshiba tumbled.
The Nikkei 225 Index raced higher 199 points, or 1%, after Tuesday’s sizable loss, to 19,437.98
The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong strengthened 291.86 points, or 1.2%, to 23,994.87
Toshiba shares dropped 8.8% to end at 209.7 yen in Tokyo after media reports that the company would book a $6.3-billion U.S. hit to its U.S. nuclear unit and may sell more of its prized flash-memory chip business to urgently raise funds. Media outlets added that the Japanese company's loans from banks and insurers stood at $7 billion U.S.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal reported that Toshiba chairman Shigenori Shiga would resign from his post effective Wednesday, while the former chief executive of Toshiba's U.S. nuclear-plant business Westinghouse Electric, Danny Roderick, was stripped of his executive post.
In other Japanese corporate activity, internet and telecom giant SoftBank announced a $3.3-billion U.S. cash acquisition of asset manager Fortress Investment Group. SoftBank shares climbed 1.6% to 8,670 yen.
Japanese banks and financial companies finished higher, with Mitsubishi UFJ up 1.7%, SMFG up 1.4% and Mizuho Financial gaining 1.2%
Among major currency pairs, the yen weakened slightly against the U.S. dollar to trade at 114.53, down from an earlier high of 114.19, while the Australian dollar traded at $0.7665 U.S.
Australian stocks hiked, as the heavily-weighted financial sector was up 1.7%, with major banks gaining more than 1% each.
Shares of ANZ gained 1.3% Commonwealth Bank of Australia rose 2.3%, Westpac added 1.8% and National Australia Bank climbed 2.4%
Major miner BHP Billiton gained 1.3%
Media outlets reported that striking workers at Chile's massive Escondida copper mine and BHP, which operates the mine, have agreed to renew talks on Wednesday. The mine produced over one million tonnes of copper, about 5% of the world's total in 2016. Copper prices rose 0.6% to $6,056 U.S. a tonne on Wednesday morning, after falling to $6,021 in the previous session.
In other markets
In Shanghai, the CSI 300 dropped 14.09 points, or 0.4%, to 3,421.71,
In Taiwan, the Taiex Index popped 80.98 points, or 0.8%, to 9,799.76
In Korea, the Kospi index moved forward 9.29 points, or 0.5%, to 2,083.86
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index progressed 16.01 points, or 0.5%, to 3,088.48
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 added 29.14 points, or 0.4%, to 7,180.03
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 jumped 53.83 points, or 0.9%, to 5,809.07
