(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Japanese shares led markets higher on Wednesday as investor sentiment recovered amid hopes for the global economy.
The turnaround began on Tuesday after the US posted another month of retail sales growth, a 0.2 per cent monthly rise in December. The rise, while modest, helped assuage some concerns about the strength and durability of the US economic recovery following weak jobs data
Meanwhile, the World Bank sounded a note of optimism by indicating that the global economy has turned a corner after five years of financial crises and recession
"Equity markets welcomed the international financial organisation's outlook for 2014, in which it raised its global growth forecasts for the year," said David Madden, market analyst at IG
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.3 per cent at 6,788 while Germany's DAX rose 0.9 per cent to 9,629. The CAC-40 in France was 0.5 per cent higher at 4,295
Wall Street was poised for a solid opening, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.2 per cent
The gains in Europe and anticipated advance at Wall Street's open were dwarfed by the 2.5 per cent rise in Japan's Nikkei 225 to 15,808.73. That helped the index recover much of its 3.1 per cent loss on Tuesday
A softer yen helped, particularly the share prices of exporters such as Toyota and Sony - a lower currency potentially helps them in international markets
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.5 per cent to 22,902 and South Korea's Kospi added 0.4 per cent to 1,953.28. The Shanghai Composite Index, however, lost 0.2 per cent to 2,023.35 as investors anticipated an influx of new listings
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