Beijing - China's two main stock market indices soared by more than 3 per cent Wednesday after an overnight climb on Wall Street spurred regional gains across Asia.

The key Shanghai Composite Index, which tracks shares traded in foreign and local currencies, closed at 1,760.61 after gaining 53.91 points, or 3.16 per cent.

The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index also climbed by 3.04 per cent, or 13.88 points, to end the day at 470.86.

Seoul - Shares surged for the fi

IT, pharma and select realty, consumer durables and power stocks trade strongly while the benchmark BSE index Sensex continues to languish in the negative terrain with a sharp loss on account of heavy selling activity in Reliance Industries, Reliance Communications, Bharti Airtel, ACC, Tata Steel, SBI and Grasim Industries.

At 12:28 p.m., the Sensex lost 191.25 points 10,439.87, while the Nifty stood at 3087.30, down 54.80 points.

Tokyo - The Tokyo market ended Wednesday's trading higher as the news of Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election boosted investor sentiment.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average soared 406.64 points, or 4.46 per cent, to close at 9,521.24.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also rose 56.21 points, or 6.17 per cent, to 966.91.

In morning trading, Japanese stocks rose on Wall Street's overnight rises and the US dollar's advance against the yen. A stronger dollar helps increase Japanese exporters' earnings.

Indian equities lost their strength and fell into the depressing zone because of heavy profit booking.

IT, consumer durables, realty stocks gained ground, whereas oil & gas and banking stocks went down.

BSE Midcap and Smallcap index surged 0.20% and 0.61% respectively.

The 30-share index BSE Sensex, today, opened with a gain of 300.05 points at 10,931.17.

In the previous day (Tuesday, Nov 4) session, the Sensex closed the day after gaining 293.44 points, while the NSE Nifty zoomed 98.25 points.