- Winning start for Poch's American adventure
- Morocco's tribeswomen see facial tattoo tradition fade
- Centre-left set to win as pro-Ukraine Lithuania votes
- Colombia guerilla group urges delegations not to attend COP16 in Cali
- Pakistan frets over security ahead of SCO summit
- Ronaldo scores 133rd Portugal goal in Nations League win over Poland
- 40 nations contributing to UN Lebanon peacekeeping force condemn 'attacks'
- Eight dead as heavy rain thrashes Brazil after long drought
- Jewish school in Canada hit by gunfire for second time
- Morocco crush Central African Republic, Guirassy scores hat-trick
- Dupont scores quickfire hat-trick on Toulouse Top 14 return
- Ronaldo scores in Portugal's Nations League win as Spain sink Denmark
- Interim boss Carsley has not applied for England job
- Mets hurler Senga ready to take on Dodgers in game one of NL Championship Series
- Ronaldo on target again as Portugal defeat Poland in Nations League
- Guardians rip Tigers 7-3 to advance in MLB playoffs
- AFP, BBC win top French war reporting awards
- Carsley goes back to basics as humbled England face Finland
- Alex Salmond: the man who took Scotland to the brink of independence
- Scotland's former leader Alex Salmond dies aged 69: party
- UN warns of catastrophe as Israel fights a two-front war
- Croatia extend Scotland's losing streak
- South Africa, New Zealand boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes
- 'Very challenging': Israel faces Hezbollah in tricky terrain
- Farrell begins to feel at home as Racing 92 beat Toulon
- South Africa boost T20 World Cup semi-final hopes with Bangladesh win
- Samson ton powers India to T20 series sweep after record total
- Djokovic to face Sinner in Shanghai final with 100th title in sight
- UN peacekeepers to remain in Lebanon: spokesman
- Pro-Conquest film fuels debate in Mexico over colonial legacy
- Samson ton powers India to record 297-6 in Bangladesh T20
- New Zealand enjoy perfect start to America's Cup defence over Britain
- Pogacar emulates icon Coppi with fourth straight Il Lombardia triumph
- UN warns against 'catastrophic' regional conflict
- New Zealand crush Ineos Britannia in America's Cup opener
- Djokovic to face Sinner in blockbuster Shanghai Masters final
- With medical report Harris seeks to play health card against Trump
- Sri Lanka seeks to match success in W.Indies T20s
- Sinner reaches Shanghai final, will end year number one
- China-EU EV tariff talks in Brussels end with 'major differences': Beijing
- Sabalenka downs Gauff in three sets to reach Wuhan final
- Israel warns south Lebanon residents to 'not return'
- Sinner tames Machac to reach Shanghai Masters final
- Buried Nazi past haunts Athens on liberation anniversary
- Harris to release medical report confirming fitness for presidency: campaign
- Nobel prize a timely reminder, Hiroshima locals say
- Hezbollah fires at Israel as wars rage on Yom Kippur
- Analysts warn more detail needed on new China economic measures
- China tees up fresh spending to boost ailing economy
- China says will issue special bonds to boost ailing economy
Asian markets mostly rise, Hong Kong boosted by Alibaba rally
Most Asian markets rose Wednesday, with Hong Kong leading the pack for a second day following reports Alibaba's co-founders had bought huge stakes in the firm, while China announced fresh measures to boost bank lending.
The gains followed another record for the S&P 500 on Wall Street that came on the back of optimism over the US economic outlook and a positive run of earnings.
That has helped offset fading expectations the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates several times this year starting in March.
Hong Kong piled on more than three percent Wednesday, building on the previous day's gains of more than two percent -- a much-needed advance after tanking around 10 percent from the start of the year to Monday.
The Hang Seng's rise was fuelled by a 7.3 percent surge in Alibaba on news that Jack Ma and Joseph Tsai had bought about $200 million worth of shares between them, which Bloomberg said was seen as a positive signal to investors in the e-commerce titan.
Other Hong Kong-listed tech firms rallied, including Tencent, JD.com and Netease.
Alibaba's New York-listed stock piled on nearly eight percent.
The firm remains down more than 70 percent from its record high seen in 2020, when Beijing began a clampdown on China's tech sector that saw the cancellation of a planned IPO by subsidiary Ant Group worth $34 billion -- a record at the time.
Traders were given an extra boost later Wednesday after the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said it would next month lower the amount of cash banks must keep in reserve as it looks to ramp up lending to help kick-start the stuttering economy.
The 0.5 percentage point cut in the reserve requirement ratio would pump an extra $140 billion into financial markets, the PBoC said.
News of the reduction came a day after Bloomberg reported that Premier Li Qiang had called for more "forceful" measures to support China's battered stocks, giving a shot in the arm to investor confidence.
Authorities were said to be looking at a raft of initiatives, and policymakers were seeking to mobilise nearly $280 billion, mainly from the offshore accounts of state-owned enterprises.
There were also gains in Shanghai, Sydney, Bangkok, Mumbai, Wellington, Taipei and Manila.
However, Tokyo -- which rallied in January to three-decade highs thanks to rising hopes for the Japanese economy -- fell after central bank boss Kazuo Ueda ramped up expectations it will soon move away from its ultra-loose monetary policy.
Bets are now on a more hawkish shift to the long-running easing measures in the first half of the year.
Seoul and Jakarta also eased.
London, Frankfurt and Paris all rose at the open.
Investors are keeping a close eye on the US earnings season, which analysts said had so far been largely positive, spurring hope that the world's top economy will continue to grow healthily, even with interest rates still sitting at two-decade highs.
Wall Street remained optimistic despite bets on a March rate cut waning following warnings from Fed officials that they were determined to do what was needed to tame inflation, suggesting a more dovish turn was not yet in the offing.
"The excitement is kind of gone at this point and everybody's sobering up a little bit after the pivot party," said Emily Roland, at John Hancock Investment Management, referring to an end-of-year equity surge sparked by expectations of an early Fed reduction.
- Key figures around 0810 GMT -
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.8 percent at 36,226.48 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 3.6 percent at 15,899.87 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.8 percent at 2,820.77 (close)
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.6 percent at 7,527.85
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.79 yen from 148.32 yen on Tuesday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0872 from $1.0857
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2702 from $1.2692
Euro/pound: UP at 85.59 pence from 85.52 pence
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.5 percent at $74.70 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.4 percent at $79.88 per barrel
New York - Dow: DOWN 0.3 percent at 37,908.45 (close)
Y.Aukaiv--AMWN