Asian stocks gain as market looks past Sandy; Nikkei up 1.20%

Investing.com - Asian stocks rose on Wednesday after post-tropical storm Sandy began to weaken over the northeastern U.S.

While the extent of the storm's damage will be massive and is still unknown, traders went long on equities, as cleanup and recovery will follow suit eventually.

During Asian trading on Wednesday, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 0.48%, Australia's S&P/ASX200 was up 0.70%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index was up 1.20%.

Sandy continues to churn over the northeastern U.S. though the deadly storm has lost power.

Eventually communities will shake off the debris and rebuild, often a bullish trend for equities.

The news sparked demand for stock across Asia, especially in Japan.

The Bank of Japan announced plans to expand its asset-purchasing program to JPY91 trillion from JPY80 trillion to further stimulate the economy, which was bullish for stocks as well.

The euro, gold and other higher yielding assets saw demand rise on news that Italy saw borrowing costs fall to their lowest levels since May 2011 at a government auction of five- and ten-year debt.

Headwinds still persisted over trading on Wednesday, especially out of Europe, a key Asian export market.

German data showed that the number of unemployed in Germany rose by 20,000 in October, compared to expectations for an increase of 10,000, which kept many in the safety of the U.S. currency.

The German unemployment rate rose to 6.9%, matching September’s rate, which was revised up from 6.8%.

The Spanish economy contracted by 0.3% in the third quarter, slightly better than expectations for 0.4% contraction, though the country still remains mired in recession.

In Hong Kong, top gainers included China Unicom, up 2.67%, New World Development, up 2.30%, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., up 2.09%.

In Australia, top gainers included Macmahon Holdings, up 11.86%, Medusa Mining, up 7.12%,  and Resolute Mining, up 5.79%.

European stock futures indicated a lower opening.

France's CAC 40 futures pointed to a loss of 0.15%, while Germany's DAX 30 futures pointed to a gain of 0.09%. Meanwhile in the U.K., FTSE 100 futures were down 0.06%.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.02%, while the S&P 500 futures were up 0.17%.

Later Wednesday in the U.S., payroll processing firm ADP is to release a report on nonfarm payrolls, a leading indicator of private-sector job creation.

The U.S. is also to publish official data on manufacturing activity in Chicago.

Japan is due to release data on housing starts.