Asia Pacific markets jumped in early trade, as news overnight boosted Brexit optimism.Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.90% in the morning. Japan’s Nikkei 225 soared 1.75% in early trade.Meanwhile, the listing of Australian lender Latitude Financial — what was to be the biggest Australian IPO of the year — has been canceled, according to a Reuters report.U.S. private equity firm KKR, Deutsche Bank and Varde Partners decided to cancel the expected A$1 billion ($676.20 million) offering, because a large proportion of demand for shares was coming from hedge funds rather than desired long-term investors, the report said, citing sources. A company spokesman declined to comment to Reuters, but said Latitude expects to make an announcement on Wednesday.Investors will be watching out for South Korea’s interest rate decision at 9:00 a.m. HK/SIN.Meanwhile, Brexit hopes were buoyed by news that the EU and the U.K. were close to a deal. The sterling spiked to a four-month high after optimistic comments from European negotiator Michel Barnier, with reports that a draft legal text was being drawn up.The sterling was last at 1.2761 against the dollar.”Risk rallied across the board despite the IMF downgrading its growth outlook. Headlines that negotiators are closing in on a draft Brexit deal overshadowed still-soft euro area data flow, despite the fact that Prime Minister Johnson still faces the obstacle of getting a deal through Parliament,” ANZ Senior Economist Felicity Emmett wrote in a note.The International Monetary Fund warned on Tuesday that the U.S.-China trade war will cut 2019 global growth to its slowest pace since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.In Hong Kong news, nine of its biggest banks are set to meet the city’s de facto central bank on Wednesday to discuss ways to help companies find financing to survive an expected downturn, according to a SCMP report. The city’s economy has slumped amid protracted demonstrations which have gone on for months and turned increasingly violent.Sentiment stateside was lifted, however, by corporate earnings, which got off to a strong start. Of the 34 S&P 500 companies which reported third-quarter numbers, 29 topped analyst expectations.The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 237.44 points, or 0.9% to close at 27,024.80, while the S&P 500 gained 1% to close at 2,995.68 – making it about 1% from an all-time high, and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 1.2% to 8,148.71.Currencies and oilThe U.S. dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was last at 98.319, maintaining levels from an earlier high of 98.320.The Japanese yen traded at 108.80, weakening from levels around 108.37 earlier in the week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $0.6752 following a low of $0.6744 seen earlier.Oil prices rose in the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude futures up 0.34% to $58.94 per barrel. U.S. crude futures rose 0.38% to $53.02 per barrel.What’s on tap:Australia: Rio Tinto quarterly production report 5:30 a.m. SIN/HKSouth Korea: Interest rate decision at 9:00 a.m. HK/SIN
