Asian markets rose Wednesday with renewed hopes that the Trump administration and House Democrats were close to a deal on a new coronavirus relief measure. Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index finished 0.3% higher. The S&P/ASX index in Australia closed 0.1% higher. South Korea’s KOSPI index gained 0.5%, and the TSEC index in Taiwan rose 0.1%. The Shanghai Composite lost three points, but was unchanged percentage-wise. In late afternoon trading, both the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong and the Sensex in Mumbai are up 0.8%. In commodities trading, gold is selling at $1,922.30 an ounce, up 0.3%. U.S. crude oil is selling at $41.26 per barrel, down one percent, and Brent crude is selling at $42.68 per barrel, down 1.1%. All three major U.S. indices are trending positively in futures trading.
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