Asian stocks rise on strong Wall Street earnings, led by South Korea and Japan

Asian stocks rose Wednesday, with MSCI’s Asia-Pacific index up 1.5%, following Wall Street gains driven by strong corporate earnings, as 86% of reporting S&P 500 companies beat estimates. South Korean shares led regional gains with a 4% jump, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3%. Oil prices eased on unconfirmed peace reports, though Brent later rose 1.1% to $110.03, and French stocks fell amid government plans to deploy troops against planned protests. The yen weakened to 158.33 per dollar after Japan’s September exports rose 16.7%, missing forecasts. Economists expect the Bank of Japan and Federal Reserve to hold rates this month before hiking in December, with US 10-year Treasury yields at 5.123%.