BANGKOK — Shares advanced Wednesday in Europe and Asia as strong buying of technology shares helped lift some benchmarks, while the price of U.S. crude briefly surged more than 2% after President Donald Trump ordered a blockade of all “sanctioned oil tankers” into Venezuela.
Trump’s move followed the seizure by U.S. forces last week of an oil tanker off Venezuela’s coast, an unusual move that followed a buildup of military forces in the region as his administration ramps up pressure on the country’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro.
The future for the S&P 500 edged 0.1% higher and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged.
In Germany, the DAX added 0.3% to 24,138.73, while the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.1% to 8,115.18. Britain’s FTSE 100 surged 1.4% to 9,817.65.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.3% to 49,512.28 as traders awaited a decision on an interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan later in the week.
Adding to expectations for a rate hike, Japan reported its exports rose 6% in November from a year earlier, as shipments to the U.S. rose for the first time since March. A trade deal with the Trump administration that set tariffs on imports from Japan at a baseline rate of 15%, down from the initial plan for a 25% helped boost exports of cars and chemicals, among other key manufactured goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.9% to 25,468.78, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 1.2% to 3,870.28.
In South Korea, the Kospi advanced 1.4% to 4,056.41, lifted by computer chip maker SK Hynix, which gained 4%, and a 5% jump for Samsung Electronics.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.2% to 8,585.20.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks drifted through a mixed day of trading after reports on the U.S. economy did little to clear up uncertainty about where interest rates may be headin