DHAKA: Asian markets headed higher on Wednesday as investor appetite picked up on the debut of the world's biggest share-offering this year: Japan Post.
Japan Post and its banking and insurance units started trading in Tokyo after an initial public offering (IPO) topped $11.5bn (£7.4bn), reports the BBC.
It was the biggest debut since Alibaba's $25bn IPO last year.
Shares of Japan Post and its units made gains of 16% to 33% above their IPO prices in early trade.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 index was up 1.9% at 19,034.86.
Investors are also looking ahead to employment data out of the US on Friday to see whether it will support the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in December.
Chinese shares opened higher with the Shanghai Composite up 0.7% to 3,338.63, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was higher by 0.8% to 22,752.94.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index was up 0.6% to 5,269.30 as the benchmark got a boost from energy shares on the rebound in oil prices.
Crude oil prices surged 4% overnight when US gasoline and diesel rallied following an outage on a key pipeline system.
In South Korea, the Kospi index was down 0.1% to 2,046.41 - reversing earlier gains.
BDST: 1107 HRS, NOV 04, 2015
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