Asian markets close with gains for 3rd straight day

ANKARA

Major stock markets in Asia closed with gains on Wednesday for the third consecutive day this week, while European indices were in positive territory with three of them reaching new all-time highs.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 23 points, or 0.6%, to close at 3,916.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange soared 182, or 0.65%, to 28,070 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed 54 points, or 0.2%, to 26,660. China's Shanghai stock exchange was up 2 points, or 0.1%, to reach 3,532 points.

In Europe, all major indices were in positive territory, with three of them climbing to new record high levels.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, saw a historically high level during the session with 473.37 points before retreating to 472.71 points as of 0940GMT.

The French CAC 40 and Italy's FTSE MIB also hit fresh all-time highs of 6,842.43 and 26,330.24 points, respectively, before falling to 6,835 and 26,285.

London's FTSE 100 was at 7,193 points at the time with a 0.46% gain, while Germany's DAX 30 rose less than 0.1% to 6,819.

Spain's IBEX 35 increased 0.46% to 8,939.