Global Stocks Advance on Wall St Gains

BEIJING (AP) -- Global stocks rose Wednesday after Wall Street hit new highs ahead of the two-day U.S. break for the Thanksgiving holiday. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed above the 30,000 level for the first time in over 10 years.

KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, London's FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent to 3,816.00. France's CAC 40 gained just under 0.1 percent to 5,369.36 while Germany's DAX was little-changed at 13,173.94. On Tuesday, the DAX gained 0.8 percent, the CAC 40 rose 0.5 percent and the FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent. On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.1 percent and that for the Standard & Poor's 500 index was little-changed.

ASIA'S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.6 percent to 3,430.46 and Tokyo's Nikkei 225 gained 0.5 percent to 22,523.15. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index advanced 0.6 percent to 30,003.49 and Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 added 0.4 percent to 5,986.40. Seoul's Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 2,540.51 and India's Sensex gained 0.2 percent to 33,555.56. Manila declined while New Zealand, Taiwan and other Southeast Asian markets rose.

TENCENT: Chinese tech and media company Tencent fell back after racking up gains earlier in the week that took its market capitalization above that of Facebook. By Wednesday's close Tencent was down 0.7 percent at 426.80 Hong Kong dollars. Its market capitalization was at about 4.05 trillion Hong Kong dollars (about $518 billion).

WALL STREET: U.S. indexes set new records as technology and health care stocks rose. Apple, Facebook, Microsoft and Amazon all rose more than 1 percent. Basic materials companies advanced while telecoms companies declined. The S&P and Dow both advanced 0.7 percent while the Nasdaq composite index added 1.1 percent.

ANALYST'S TAKE: "Emerging markets are flying and this is where traders are really generating outperformance," said Chris Weston of IG in a report. "Asia, in particular, is looking super strong."

U.S. FED WATCH: Chair Janet Yellen said the Federal Reserve needs to craft an interest rate policy that avoids putting the economy through a "boom-bust" cycle. Yellen's speech Tuesday echoed previous remarks on inflation, reinforcing expectations for more gradual rate hikes. Yellen is due to leave the Fed next year but economists expect no major policy changes.

ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude rose $1.05 to $57.88 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 41 cents on Tuesday to close at $56.83. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 66 cents to $63.21 in London. It advanced 35 cents the previous session to $62.57.

CURRENCY: The dollar declined to 112.03 yen from Tuesday's 112.44 yen. The euro rose to $1.1761 from $1.1739.

(BE)