Asian stocks gain after France, Spain unveil reopening plans

 Asian stock markets gained Wednesday after France and Spain joined governments that plan to ease anti-virus controls and allow businesses to reopen.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Souast Asia vanced. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Wall Street retreated overnight, hurt by declines in health care and tech stocks that have been among winners during coronavirus pandemic.

French and Spanish governments anunced plans Tuesday to allow restaurants and or businesses to reopen grually. y followed Italy, which anunced similar plans on Sunday.

“Reopening hopes continue to characterize market despite slight pullback for Wall Street,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a report.

Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.2% to 2,814.75 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index ded 0.1% to 24,598.00. Kospi in Seoul vanced 0.8% to 1,948.68.

ASX-S&P 200 in Sydney gained 1.1% to 5,371.20 while India's Sensex opened up 1.1% at 32,464.51. Singapore was 0.3% higher and Jakarta gained 0.4%. New Zealand shed 0.9%.

Investors who want to kw when deepest global downturn since 1930s might end have been encourd by plans to reopen factories, retailing and travel. But ecomists warn y are too optimistic and say evidence is mounting that dam is even worse than forecast.

On Wednesday, New Zealand allowed construction sites, restaurants and some or businesses to reopen following a decline in new virus cases.

South Korea's government reported March industrial production increased by 4.6% compared with previous month.

“We won’t get too many positive reports on activity in Asia over coming months, so we should probably make most of this one,” said Rob Carnell of ING in a report.

In United States, some goverrs are rolling back curbs and allowing restaurants, hair salons and or businesses to reopen despite warnings by health experts that moving too fast might le to new outbreaks.

President Donald Trump, running for re-election amid a slump that has wiped out more than 10 million jobs, is pressing or goverrs to lift lockdowns. Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, one of hardest-hit and most populous states, says controls will be eased only after numbers of new cases decline.

Elsewhere, Singapore on Tuesday extended its lockdown by four weeks after reporting its highest one-day toll of new cases a day earlier. India also reported a one-day record for new infections on Monday.

On Wall Street, benchmark S&P 500 Index lost 0.5% to 2,863.39. Dow Jones Industrial Aver slipped 0.1% to 24,101.55. Nasdaq, which is dominated by big tech stocks, fell 1.4% to 8,607.73.

Netflix, which set record highs with viewers stuck at home, slipped 4.2%. Or stay-at-home winners also fell, including a 2.6% drop for Amazon and a 1.1% dip for Clorox, whose disinfecting wipes have seen a surge in demand.

Many professional investors are skeptical of stock market’s big rally, which has driven S&P 500 up 28% from its March low.

y are wary of how fast stocks have rebounded despite grual pace of resuming business activity.

Among winners were travel companies, shopping-mall owners and or businesses that got hammered after widespre stay-at-home orders.

Harley-Davidson jumped 15.2% after laying out plans to slash costs and preserve cash, including a cut of its dividend and a halt to its stock buyback program. rwegian Cruise Line rose 14.4%, and Kimco Realty, which owns shopping centers, ded 9.1%.

yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury fell to 0.61% from 0.65% late Monday. Yields tend to fall when investors are downgring expectations for ecomy and inflation.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery gained $1.16 to $13.50 per barrel in electronic tring on New York Mercantile Exchange. contract lost 44 cents previous day to settle at $12.34. Brent crude, used to price international oils, ded 32 cents to $23.06 per barrel in London. It rose 47 cents on Tuesday to $20.46.

dollar declined to 106.56 yen from Tuesday's 106.86 yen. euro was unchanged at $1.0847.