Asian markets close Wednesday in positive territory

By Gokhan Ergocun

ISTANBUL (AA) - All major Asian stock markets ended the midweek with gains, except for China's Shanghai stock exchange.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, earned 52.75 points, or 1.44%, to close at around 3,727.76 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange was up 455.12 points, or 1.68%, to 27,533.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, gained 252.18 points, or 1.07%, to reach 23,802.

The Indian Sensex benchmark posted an increase of 695.76 points, or 1.18%, to close at 59,558 points, and the Singapore index also earned 3.26 points, or 0.10%, to reach 3,249.

Meanwhile, China's Shanghai stock exchange lost 32.81 points, or 0.97%, to reach 3,361 points.

- European markets

All major European indices were in the positive territory as of the midday.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, was up 3.83 points, or 0.81%, to reach 478.69 points as of 1010GMT.

London's FTSE 100 increased by 60.71 points, or 0.81%, to stand at 7,596 points, and Germany's DAX index reached 15,730 points, up by 111.47 points or 0.71%.

The French CAC 40 earned 47.11 points, or 0.66%, to reach 7,146 points, while Italy's FTSE MIB posted an increase of 268.02 points, or 0.98%, to stand at 27,492 points.

Spain's IBEX 35 also rose by 31.9 points, or 0.37%, to 8,758 points.