by Elaine Frei

Global equities markets were higher on Wednesday on hopes that credit markets are pulling out of recent troubles. The biggest gains in the Asia-Pacific region came in Tokyo, where the Nikkei 225 added 4.21 percent to 13,189.36 and the Topix index was up 4.19 percent to 1,282.07 while the Mothers market of small and mid-caps was 1.77 percent higher to 623.25.

Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region, the Shanghai Composite was up 0.56 percent to 3,347.88 while the Sensex was 0.79 percent higher to 15,750.4 and the Taiex added 2.2 percent to 8,605.32. South Korea’s Kospi was up 2.35 percent to 1,742.19. In Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries gained 2.41 percent to 5,544.9 and the ASX/S&P200 was 2.64 percent higher to 5,502.9. The Straits Times Index added 2.56 percent to 3,124.61 while the Hang Seng jumped 3.18 percent to 23,872.43.

Europe’s markets were also higher on the session, with the pan-European FTSE Eurofirst 300 up 1.18 percent to 1,317.84. The Dax was 0.85 percent higher to 6,777.44 while the CAC-40 added 0.94 percent to 4,911.97 and the IBEX gained 1.02 percent to 13,838.7. In London, the FTSE 100 was up 1.08 percent to 5,915.9 while the FTSE 250 gained 0.35 percent to 10,372.

The New York markets were mixed in early afternoon trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.31 percent to 12,615.36 while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.07 percent to 2,364.45 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.75 percent to 1,369.43.

Crude oil prices were higher, as were grains prices in Chicago. Precious and base metals prices were mixed.

The US dollar was weaker versus the euro, pound, rand, and Norwegian krone, but it was stronger versus the yen. Besides gaining on the dollar, the pound was also stronger versus the euro.

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