Asian stocks see gains as investors shrug off market fears, Nikkei 225 extends bounce

Asian equities are broadly higher for Wednesday as traders look to shrug off current US-China trade tensions as Europe temporarily swings into focus on Brexit talks and Italian government clashes.

Stocks in the Asia market session followed Wall Street's lead, posting solid gains through Wednesday's early trading as broader market sentiment gets a brief reprieve from Sino-US trade war anxieties. The trade spat between the two superpowers remains entirely unresolved, but Europe has (for the time being) returned to the forefront, with a major EU leadership summit in Brussels due later today where Brexit progress, or the lack thereof, will likely be the main topic of discussion, while the European Union continues to face down trouble on the homefront with the Italian government looking force through a spend-heavy budget that flaunts EU "ideal" budgetary targets. With the focus shifted to the EU session, Asian equity markets are getting a chance to recapture recent losses, although China markets are flat with the Chung Yeung Festival in effect.

Japan is having a solid recovery day in the major bourses, with the Nikkei 225 index up 1.25% on the day, with the Tokyo Topix index clear 1.50%; Australia's ASX 200 sees comparable gains of 1.10% for Wednesday, with emerging markets a little more strained, but still positive with the MSCI broad Asia-Pacific index up by 0.60%. Chinese markets are all almost entirely dark for the celebration of the ninth phase of the ninth lunar month, and Shanghai's CSI 300 remains flat at 0.02% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index barely registering at 0.07%.

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

Japan's leading equity index is holding near 22,800.00 for the time being, after clipping into a fresh high for the week at 22,940.00; the index still remains sharply off of last week's open of 23,700.00, and the two-week top of 24,450.00 is still looking incredibly distant, with support coming from this week's technical bottom of 22,030.00, an eight-week low for the pair.