Asian and European stock markets rose on Wednesday, steadying after losses this week, as investors welcomed improved industrial data from China.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.7 per cent and China’s CSI advanced 0.2 per cent following a two-day losing streak. In Europe, the region-wide Stoxx Europe 600 index edged 0.1 per cent higher at the opening bell as tech and healthcare stocks buoyed the index after four straight days of losses.

Data showed that profits in China’s industrial sector fell 11.7 per cent year-on-year in the first eight months of 2023, compared with a larger 15.5 per cent contraction in the first seven months of the year, a sign that recent support measures may be helping to stabilise the world’s second-largest economy.