Asian markets trade higher as Deutsche Bank fears ease

Stock markets across Asia rallied on 3 October, as investors were buoyed by reports that Deutsche Bank was negotiating a cut-price settlement with the US Department of Justice.

Germany's largest lender has been told to pay up to $14bn (£10.8bn) by the DOJ to settle allegations it mis-sold mortgage securities in the lead up to the 2008 financial crisis.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 share average advanced 0.9% to 16,598.67 points late in the day, after a private survey showed that the country's manufacturing activity expanded for the first time in seven months in September.

The Nikkei/IHS Markit manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 50.4 from 49.5 in August.

A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector, while a score below signifies contraction.

"Manufacturing conditions improved marginally in Japan for the first time since February at the end of the third quarter," said Amy Brownbill, economist at IHS Markit.

"According to PMI data, the rise in production was partly driven by international demand as new export orders rose for the first time in eight months."

Rest of Asia

Hong Kong's Hang Seng advanced 1% to 23,527.73 points.

Meanwhile, the pound fell to its lowest level against the US dollar since August after Prime Minister Theresa May said she would trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – the formal process to take the UK out of the European Union – by the end of March next year.

"'Hard Brexit' is now the path that the Tory party has chosen and that is unlikely to be relished by markets as these fears certainly seemed to have weighed on the pound over the past two weeks," said Angus Nicholson, market analyst at IG in Melbourne.

Elsewhere, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 benchmark climbed 0.8% to 5,478.52 points.

South Korea's Kospi share average bucked the regional trend, however, shedding 25 points to settle at 2,043.63.