HSNGY Hang Seng Bank Ltd (PK)

Asian shares rose broadly early Thursday, as global investors chose to focus on the upsides of a Donald Trump presidency after a sharp selloff in the region the previous day.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gained 5.8%, its biggest single-day gain in two months, making up for Wednesday's 5.4% fall. Korea's Kospi added 1.8% and Singapore's Straits Times Index was higher by 1.3%.

"His victory surprised everyone but I think people noticed a reconciliatory tone in his speech," said Alex Furber, senior client services executive at CMC Markets. "Analysts are scratching their heads but I think the key now will be with what Trump actually does versus what he has said."

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 gained 2.7%, led by commodity stocks as prices recovered, with iron ore surging 4.7% to its highest level year to date.

Among key Australian resources firms, BHP Billiton rose 7.9%, while Rio Tinto added 7.8% in morning trade.

Asia's strength on Thursday—with all equity markets headed higher—came as stocks on Wall Street notched firm gains overnight, lifted by hopes that Mr. Trump's plan to cut corporate taxes and ease repatriation of firms' overseas cash will boost the U.S. economy. Investors also hoped that his fiscal spending plans would boost a laggard U.S. economy.

Meanwhile, Japanese stocks surged, with analysts noting that Mr. Trump's possible push on infrastructure spending and other initiatives could benefit local infrastructure companies, as well as industrial-robot and electronic-parts makers.

Industrial giant Hitachi Ltd. was up 9.1%, robot maker Fanuc Corp. was up 5.8%, and Honda Motor Co. surged 8.0%.

"There is a tide of positive assessment of Mr. Trump's economic policies," said Takashi Ito, a strategist at Nomura Securities. "We aren't sure if he can do everything he has said he would, but if some of that materializes, that'd be good news for the U.S. economy," he said.

In U.S. trading on Wednesday, stock markets reversed earlier flips to end up with the S&P 500 closing up 1.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 1.4%.

Traders also shrugged off earlier worries over Mr. Trump's tough rhetoric against China, with the Shanghai Composite Index gaining 1.1%, and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rising 1.8%.

But concerns over the outlook of the U.S. market capped gains among Hong Kong stocks with heavy U.S. exposure. Blue-chip Li & Fung, which sources goods for key U.S. retailers, recouped just 0.6% from its 4.5% fall on Wednesday.

Analysts say the markets will now refocus on the U.S. Federal Reserve's action in December. Market expectations of an interest-rate rise next month has given way to doubts of any increase at all this year, following the Trump victory.

"I am off the election now," said Stephen Innes, head of trading for the Asia Pacific region at currency broker Oanda in Singapore. "I am certainly changing my December Fed hike view from a certainty to a 50:50 chance."

Saurabh Chaturvedi, Rhiannon Hoyle and Robb M. Stewart contributed to this article.

Write to Kenan Machado at kenan.machado@wsj.com and Kosaku Narioka at kosaku.narioka@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2016 23:35 ET (04:35 GMT)

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