7:30AM Japanese and Hong Kong markets finished higher Wednesday.
Asian markets ended higher on Wednesday. The Nikkei 225 Index ended up 1.61% to 16,071.36. It had not finished above 16,000 since May 19. Electronics conglomerate Hitachi Ltd jumped 3.81% and top PC-maker NEC Corp advanced 4.75%. Nissan Motor led the carmaker gainers, advancing 2.59%. Toyota Motor and Honda Motor also advanced mre than 2%. Sonu was off 1.15%, after Dell Inc. Announced it was recalling more than 4 million laptops made by Sony.

Hong Kong''s Hang Seng Index advanced 1.02% to close 17,451.03, its best finish since September 2000. Property stocks led advancers, with New World Development and Hang Lung Properties making the largest gains on hopes a continued pause in U.S. interest rate hikes would help real-estate sales in Hong Kong''s dollar-pegged economy. South Korea''s Kospi index moved up 1.58%. Key exporters Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motors gained both more than 2%. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.52%. Leading insurer QBE Insurance Group advanced on strong first-half earnings and miner BHP Billiton gained despite an ongoing strike at its Escondida copper mine in Chile.

6:30AM European markets can''t hold on to earlier gains.
Europe was lower by mid-morning. The U.K. FTSE 100 index lost 0.1% at 5,892, while the German Dax lost 5.3 points, or 0.1%, at 5,770.98 and the French CAC 40 was almost flat, 0.8 points lower at 5,114.18. European corporate movers included German chemicals group Lanxess advancing 1.4% after posting a forecast-beating second-quarter profit rise. On the downside, U.K. nuclear energy group British Energy lost 3.7% after posting sharply higher profit figures but lower output.

Also, Swiss medical device maker Synthes shed 2.1% following its statement that its half-year net profit increased 8.3% to $243.3 million, while sales rose 13.8% to $1.17 billion. Also, Dutch bank ABN Amro advanced 0.8% after rival Dutch bank ING upgraded it to buy from hold, on expectations of more restructuring at its wholesale arm.

Light sweet crude oil for September delivery dropped 7 cents to $72.98 a barrel in electronic trading on the NYME. October Brent at London''s ICE Futures exchange, which moves to the front month from Thursday, lost 18 cents to $73.59 a barrel. The euro rose slightly against the U.S. dollar Wednesday, trading in a narrow range as market participants awaited U.S. consumer price data later in the day. The dollar advanced slightly against the British pound, which slipped to $1.8922 from $1.8936 the evening before, and fell against the Japanese yen, to 116.09 yen from 116.12 the day before.

5:30AM Gold fell Tuesday on Low Inflation and Ceasefire.
December gold futures ended $6.40 lower at $632.90 a troy ounce. September silver contract finished 7.5 cents lower at $12.085 an ounce. October platinum settled up $8.10 at $1,241.40 an ounce. September palladium closed up $6.40 at $324.70 an ounce. September copper moved down 0.95 cent at $3.5275 per pound.

September light, sweet crude oil settled down 48 cents at $73.05 a barrel. September gasoline settled up 0.11 cent at $1.9916 a gallon. September natural gas finished down 5.2 cents at $6.861 per million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, September Arabica coffee ended 2.10 cent higher at $1.0285 a pound. Futures on raw sugar in foreign ports for October finished 0.29 cent higher at 12.79 cents a pound.