An investor sits at a terminal in front of a screen displaying stock information at a brokerage house in the financial district of Beijing
An investor sits at a terminal in front of a screen displaying stock information at a brokerage house in the financial district of Beijing March 30, 2010. REUTERS

Asian markets rose Wednesday as investor confidence was lifted after the Bank of Japan announced stimulus measures to bolster the country's economic growth.

Chinese Shanghai Composite rose 0.40 percent or 8.29 points to 2067.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.16 percent or 239.98 points to 20841.91. Among major gainers were China Mobile Ltd (1.26 percent) and PetroChina Co Ltd (1.11 percent).

South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index rose 0.15 percent or 2.92 points to 2007.88. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd dropped 0.53 percent and those of Hyundai Motor Company declined 1.61 percent.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.19 percent or 108.44 points to 9232.21. Among major gainers were Ricoh Co Ltd (3.22 percent), Dentsu Inc (2.99 percent) and Kobe Steel Ltd (2.86 percent).

India's equity markets were closed Wednesday for public holiday.

Market sentiment turned positive as the BoJ announced Wednesday stimulus measures in an attempt to rejuvenate the country’s economy weakened by the soft global demand and worrying domestic activities.

The BoJ said that it was increasing the size of its asset purchases by 10 trillion yen ($127 billion) to 80 trillion yen. The central bank decided that the increased amount would be used for purchasing the treasury discount bills and Japanese government bonds. Meanwhile, the central bank left the policy interest rate in the current range of zero to 0.1 percent.

Japan's economy grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, down from 1.2 percent in the first three months of the year. The data also showed that the economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.4 percent in the April-June quarter, down from 5.5 percent in the previous quarter.

Meanwhile, the intensifying tensions between China and Japan over the East China Sea islands claimed by both countries continue to worry the investors. Market players are concerned that the dispute between the world's second and third largest economies could further weaken the global economic growth already affected by the euro zone crisis.

China India Japan South Korea