Japanese stocks today outperformed others after Tokyo's successful bid to host the 2020 Olympic Games boosted sentiment over the future of the world's number 3 economy.
Elsewhere, uncertainty over Syria and whether the Federal Reserve will start reducing its monetary stimulus kept sentiment in check despite better-than-expected Chinese trade figures.
Japan's Nikkei 225 was today's standout though, jumping nearly 2.5 per cent to 14,205.23 as traders hoped the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020 will boost the country's construction sector, which the government is already targeting as part of its program to kick-start its economy. Figures showing that the Japanese economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.8 per cent in the second quarter of the year instead of the previous estimate of 2.6 per cent also boosted sentiment.
"Obviously the Olympics won't come around for another seven years, but preparation begins straight away so the impact on the economy between now and then, for example in the construction sector, will be very welcome," said Craig Erlam, market analyst at Alpari.
"This could bring about additional support the economy, which is already in recovery mode."
Elsewhere, the mood was far more lackluster amid a dearth of economic news and ongoing uncertainty over a military strike on Syria.
In Europe, The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 0.2 per cent at 6,522 while Germany's DAX was steady at 8,276. The CAC-40 in France was 0.4 per cent lower at 4,033.
US stocks were performing moderately better, with the Dow Jones industrial average up 0.2 per cent at 14,943 and the broader S&P 500 index up the same rate at 1,658.
As well as monitoring developments over Syria, particularly the return of Congress in the US, traders around the world will continue to monitor the US economic releases to gauge whether the Federal Reserve will start to reduce its monetary stimulus this month.
Earlier, traders in Asia were also lifted by news that China, the world's second-largest economy, recorded a bigger-than-expected trade surplus of UD 28.6 billion in August. That helped the benchmark Shanghai index surge 3.4 percent to 2,212.52. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.6 percent to end at 22,750.65.
