Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as investors cheered Apple's strong earnings and on optimism that China may roll back policy tighening measures later this year, while the euro firmed ahead of euro zone's bank stress test results late in the week, Reuters reported. Markets were cautious ahead of testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to Congress due at 1800 GMT for fresh indications on the health of world's biggest economy, and policy signals from the central bank. European stocks were set to track Wall Street and Asia higher, with financial spreadbetters expecting Britain's FTSE 100 to open 1 percent higher; Germany's DAX to open up 0.8 percent, and France's CAC 40 to gain 1.5 percent. The MSCI index of Asia Pacific ex-Japan stocks rose 0.6 percent, led by the resources sector, which jumped 1.7 percent on hopes that China's voracious demand for commodities would remain strong. South Korean shares rose 0.7 percent, buoyed by memory chip makers such as Samsung Electronics on hopes memory chip demand would stay robust after Apple posted stronger-than-expected results and gave an unusually upbeat revenue forecast after the Wall Street closing bell. Weak revenue growth reported by some other major U.S. firms over the last week had fueled fears that its economic recovery was losing momentum. "Apple's strong set of results and U.S. Nasdaq index futures' subsequent gains, have prompted foreign buying into Seoul technology stocks," said Kim Seong-bong, a market analyst at Samsung Securities. "Apple's earnings point to earnings growth for domestic memory chip makers, which probably supply chips to Apple," said Lim Dong-min, a market analyst at KB Investment & Securities. Shares of Apple, maker of the iPhone and iPad, jumped more than 3 percent in after-hours trade, which could help U.S. stocks to their third straight day of gains on Wednesday. Investors are also awaiting earnings results later on Wednesday from the likes of Morgan Stanley, Coca-Cola and eBay.
