Asian stock markets close Tuesday with gains

ANKARA

Asia's major stock markets closed Tuesday with gains, buoyed by the full US approval for Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine plus expectations that the Fed will hold off tapering its bond purchases.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, posted the largest rise with a rally in Chinese tech shares. The index jumped 2.46% or 618.33 points to some 25,728 on Tuesday.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, gained 1.55% or 59.13 points to close at 3,864.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange climbed 237.86 points, or 0.87%, to 27,732.

China's Shanghai stock exchange added 37.34 points, or 1.07%, to 3,514 points.

Meanwhile European stock markets were trending lower as of 1000GMT, except for Germany's DAX 30.