Most Asian stock markets showed gains on Wednesday, on the back of the latest US job data.
The data - from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics - found non-farm payroll employment in the US increased by 162,000 in March.
In Hong Kong the Hang Seng Index jumped 314.06 points (or 1.46%) at 21851.06 points at noon. It closed at 21928.77 points, which added 391.77 (or 1.82%) in the day, with the finance sectors gaining the most with an increase of 2.06%. The biggest two winners were China Construction Bank, which rose 4.15% and ICBC which gained 3.8%.
Hang Seng China Enterprises Index also gained 291.77 points (or 2.3%) at 12987.82 points.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 10.51 points (or 0.093%) on Wednesday after the Bank of Japan kept its key interest rate at 0.1%. In Singapore, the Straits Times Index added 17.56 points (or 0.59%) at 2993.07 points.
Stocks in China dropped as the fears over potential tightening measures being removed grew. The Shanghai Composite Index dropped 0.33% on Wednesday to 3148.22 points.
In Australia, the Reserve Bank raised the official cash rate by 25 basis points to 4.25%, causing the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index to gain 7.2 points (or 0.15%) at 4960.9 points.
