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In the course of trading on Wednesday, the Asian stock market showed notable growth. Almost all indices gained more than 1% except for the Japanese Nikkei 225 which posted a decline of 1.44%. The rest of the Asia-Pacific indices are steadily growing: the Shanghai Composite rose by 1.29%, the Shenzhen Composite added 1.66%, the Hang Seng Index increased by 1.09%. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 and South Korea's KOSPI gained slightly less than others, having advanced by 0.62% and 0.32% respectively.
Investors' optimism is mainly supported by the recent negotiations between Russia and Ukraine in Istanbul. The Russian side noted some progress in the talks between the two delegations. The possibility of a peace deal as well as of a personal meeting between the presidents of Russia and Ukraine encouraged the markets.
Other global stock indices met this news with an upside move. The euro has strengthened against the US dollar while the value of oil has significantly decreased.
At the same time, a drop in the Japanese index was attributed to weak corporate reports. In addition, investors fear a new wave of coronavirus that has already happened in China.
Japan also posted a 0.8% decline in retail sales last month compared to the same period last year. This is the first time in the past six months that such a significant decline has occurred. Analysts predicted a fall of just 0.3%. The retail sales data for January was also revised down from 1.6% to 1.1%.
Nintendo's shares fell by nearly 6% after the announcement that the release of the company's most popular game, The Legend of Zelda, has been delayed until the next year.
Among the companies included in the Nikkei 225 index, Sony lost 0.4%, Fast Retailing fell by 1.2%, and Toyota Motor was down by 1.8%.
Other Japanese companies posted gains: SoftBank Group added 2%, Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha gained 3%, and Mitsui O.S.K. Lines went up by 2.3%.
In the Hang Seng Index, the following stocks showed good performance: Country Garden Holdings Co. increased by 7.2%, BOC Hong Kong rose by 5.6%, Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd. added 4.3%, and Budweiser Brewing Co. APAC Ltd. advanced by 4.2%.
At the same time, the gains of some Chinese companies were less impressive. Thus, Meituan added only 0.4%, while Tencent Holdings Ltd. and JD.com increased by 1.5% and 1.2% respectively.
Securities of China Mobile Ltd. lost 1.3%, while PetroChina Co. slid by 1.2%.
Among the components of the KOSPI index, the securities of Hyundai Motor rose more than others (by 2.3%), while the value of Samsung Electronics Co. shares decreased by 0.1%.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 has been demonstrating steady growth for the past week, reaching its highest value since the beginning of the year.
Among the companies included in the index, the shares of Life360 Inc. jumped by 9.6% while Brainchip Holdings and Carsales.com advanced by 3.8% and 3.5% respectively.
At the same time, BHP's shares were down by 0.1%, while South32 and Whitehaven Coal posted a bigger decline of 3.5%. Also, among the worst performers were the companies producing petroleum products: Woodside Petroleum securities lost 0.8% and Santos dropped by 0.6%.
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