Investing.com - Shares in Asia rose on Wednesday, taking a lead from U.S, markets, though investors are increasingly wary of a prolonged political impasse in Britain's plans to exit the European Union.
The Nikkei 225 rose 1.44% as Japan's top economic policymakers prepared to meet. The S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.83% and the Shanghai Composite edged up 0.46% before the break.
The People's Bank of China strengthened the yuan central parity rate against the dollar for the first time in four days at 6.6324, compared with 6.6528 on Tuesday.
The pound eased on Wednesday in Asia after U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron told Europe’s leaders that they will have to offer the U.K. more control over immigration at the end of a fractious day where politicians across Europe clashed over the meaning and consequences of last week’s Brexit vote.
Overnight, U.S. stocks rallied sharply on Tuesday completing their strongest one-day move in four months, as investors capitalized on a host of bargain opportunities made possible from the Brexit-inspired global market crash.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 269.48 or 1.57% to 17,409.72 in Tuesday's session, bouncing from three and a half month lows from the previous day.
Previously, the Dow tumbled more than 850 points over the prior two sessions, as Financial, Energy and Transport stocks came under pressure from the surprising decision by U.K. voters to depart from the European Union. The S&P 500 Composite index added 35.55 or 1.78% to 2,036.09, as all 10 sectors closed in the green.
Stocks in the Energy, Financials and Health Care industries led, each gaining more than 2% on the session.
The NASDAQ Composite index, meanwhile, gained 97.43 or 2.12% to 4,691.87, amid considerable gains among pharmaceutical and the so-called FANG tech stocks. Shares in Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:FB) and Netflix Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:NFLX) each surged by more than 3%, while Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:NASDAQ:AMZN) shares rose by 2.4% to 16.59. Although the NASDAQ posted one of its strongest days in 2016, the index still remains in correction territory at 10% below its 52-week high.