The Asian stock markets are expected to open higher on Wednesday following another mixed bag of news out of Europe.
Spurring the bulls, Greece provided EUR 18 billion in cash boost to its four largest banks as part of the recapitalization process, the Finance Ministry said. The money was transferred from the Hellenic Financial Stability Fund, which holds the international bailout money.
In addition, recent polls in Greece show an increase in support for the political parties that back the austerity measures required for the debt-plagued nation to receive international bailout funds.
However, likely capping the upside is the latest news from Spain, which saw its credit rating downgraded again by Egan Jones, to BB- from B.
Profit taking from Tuesday's rallies also may limit the gains.
The major U.S. averages finished higher on Tuesday as the Dow advanced 125.86 points or 1 percent to finish at 12,580.69, while the NASDAQ jumped 33.46 points or 1.2 percent to end at 2,870.99 and the S&P 500 climbed 14.60 points or 1.1 percent to 1,332.42.
The major European markets also moved higher on Tuesday as the DAX of Germany increased by 1.16 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose by 1.17 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. climbed by 0.65 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.84 percent.
The Asian markets were higher on Tuesday as Taiwan soared 2.89 percent, while South Korea's KOSPI surged 1.41 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng spiked 1.35 percent, Thailand and China's Shanghai Composite both climbed 1.20 percent, Australia jumped 1.16 percent, Japan's Nikkei rose 0.74 percent, Malaysia gathered 0.67 percent, Singapore's Straits Times was up 0.52 percent, New Zealand gained 0.46 percent, India added 0.13 percent and Indonesia was up 0.01 percent.
by RTT Staff Writer
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