Asian Stocks End With Gains

Updated from 1:03 a.m. EST

Asian stocks rose Wednesday as a deal neared to rescue struggling U.S. automakers.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 3.2% to close at 8,660.24. The Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 5.6%, while the S&P/ASX 200 index in Australia rose 1%.

Stocks in Japan rose despite data showing that core machinery orders, a key barometer of corporate capital spending, fell 4.4% in October, indicating that business investment was retreating sharply amid the global slump.

Democratic congressional leaders and White House officials agreed in principle Tuesday on a $15 billion bailout of Detroit's "Big Three" automakers, General Motors(GM), Ford(F) and Chrysler, that would give the government extraordinary power to restructure the failing industry.

Shares of automakers in Japan rose. Honda (HMC) rose 10.3% and Nissan(NSANY) rose 5.2%. South Korea's Hyundai also soared in trading Wednesday.

Shares of electronics maker Sony (SNE) also rose after announcing Tuesday it planned to cut 8,000 jobs worldwide.

Mining company Rio Tinto (RTP) said it planned to cut 14,000 jobs worldwide, cut spending and sell more assets in a bid to trim debt.

Stocks in Europe were trading slightly higher. The FTSE 100 index in London rose 0.1%, while the DAX in Frankfurt was higher by 0.7%.

Premarket futures in the U.S. were indicating stocks on Wall Street will rise when markets open Wednesday.

On Tuesday, stocks in New York ended a choppy trading session with losses, halting a two-day winning streak as investors swallowed the latest corporate earnings warnings and awaited word on an expected federal bailout of the U.S. auto industry.