In Asian markets, the Nikkei 225 and the broader Japanese index, the Topix, finished the day marginally higher, closing at their highest since October 1996 and July 2007 respectively. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 1.2% after yesterday’s sell-off and the Shanghai Composite rose by 0.3%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2%.

Japan will be going to the polls on Sunday with latest forecasts indicating that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition is likely to secure the two-thirds super-majority it held in the parliament’s lower house before the elections.

At 0939 GMT European bourses were mostly on the rise. The pan-European Stoxx 600 traded 0.15% higher and the blue-chip Euro Stoxx 50 up by a bit less than that. The UK’s FTSE 100 and the German DAX were higher by 0.3% and 0.2% respectively, with the latter trading not far below the all-time high of 13,094.76 it reached a couple of days ago. The French CAC 40 was up by 0.1% with the Italian FTSE MIB being up by 0.4% and rendering itself a notable gainer relative to other major benchmarks in the continent. The Italian blue-chip index is up by 15.6% year-to-date, posting the best performance among its peers.

Spanish equities were once again underperforming with the IBEX 35 adding to yesterday’s losses, though it was last down by only 0.1% on the day. Spanish PM Mariano Rajoy will be holding a meeting with his cabinet tomorrow which could result in the suspension of Catalonia’s autonomy.

Financials were outperforming relative to other Stoxx 600 industry sectors on the back of rising optimism of tax reforms actually materializing in the US after the Senate yesterday approved a budget blueprint for the 2018 fiscal year. The Stoxx 600 Banks sub-index was last up by 0.7% with Standard Chartered (up 2.3%), Natixis (up 2.25%), Credit Agricole (up 1.9%) and BNP Paribas (up 1.5%) being a few of the notable gainers.

Basic materials were also in the green, helped by a rise in copper prices which boosted mining stocks. Miner Antofagasta (up 2.6%) led gains within the FTSE 100 whilst making the top-10 list of the Stoxx 600’s lead outperformers.

Swedish-based truck maker Volvo (up 6.2%) was the best performing Stoxx 600 stock after Q3 earnings came in above analysts’ expectations. Also Swedish-based Ericsson (up 3.4%), was benefitting on better-than-expected Q3 results. The telecommunications equipment maker was one of the biggest gainers within the Stoxx 600. On the downside, Swedish lock maker Assa Abloy (down 2.3%) was performing poorly within the Stoxx 600. Its Q3 results were negatively affected by falling sales in China.

Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures contracts were last pointing to a higher open on Wall Street, trading up by 0.3%, 0.2% and 0.1% respectively. The Dow and the S&P yesterday closed at all-time highs, though their gains on the day were negligible.

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