South Korea's Kospi rises 3.3% and Nikkei gains 0.9% on Wednesday; Hong Kong and Shanghai fall

South Korea’s Kospi index closed up 3.3% at 5,735.66 on Wednesday 21 October, according to the Associated Press. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.85% to 64,621.24, according to closing figures published by Money & Banking Magazine; the AP gave the same closing level.

The AP said technology shares in Japan and South Korea advanced after gains on Wall Street on Tuesday. South Korean AI company Elice, whose shares fell 32% on their first day of trading on Tuesday, rose by the daily limit of 29.9% on Wednesday, the AP and Sharecast reported.

Japan reported that exports rose 16.7% in September from a year earlier on strong sales of cars and computer-related components, the AP said, while imports rose 18.9%, largely because of higher oil prices. Sharecast said the export figure was below forecasts.

In Greater China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.6% to about 3,713. For Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, closing figures differed between sources: Money & Banking Magazine reported a 0.90% fall to 23,651.87, while the AP reported a 0.7% fall to 23,707.11. Taiwan’s Taiex rose 1.3%, the AP said.

For last week’s sell-off, see our earlier report.