Major stock equities in the Asia-Pacific region were higher in the afternoon trading session on Tuesday as recent comments from Federal Reserve officials appeared to provide relief that a rate pause could be on the horizon, helping to at least partially allay concerns sparked by the Middle East crisis.
The extension of the waiver allowing South Korean semiconductor giants, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix, to supply chip equipment to their Chinese factories appeared to have lifted market sentiment.
At 7:05 am CET, Nikkei 225 was up 2.48%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.25% and South Korea's Kospi added 0.14%. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite lost 0.47%. and Shenzhen Composite slipped 0.12%. Australian S&P/ASX 200 soared 1.07%.
The dollar traded 0.17% higher against the Japanese yen, with an exchange rate of 148.74950 at 7:08 am CET.
