Asian Stocks Recover From Early 4% Losses Amid Democratic Sweep of Congress

Japanese and South Korean stocks rebounded from early losses of as much as 4% Wednesday amid a Democratic sweep of the U.S. Congress, but the benchmarks closed in opposite directions.

Both indexes had been down as much as 4% earlier before recovering through the session. The Nikkei 225 finished at 62,188.63, down 893.23 points, or 1.42%. South Korea's KOSPI added 34.88 points, or 0.62%, to close at 5,683.67.

SK Hynix closed 0.14% lower after falling as much as 6% intraday. Samsung Electronics ended down 0.68%. Those declines contrasted with a gain in the KOSPI, leaving the two benchmarks with different closing directions.

Both markets recovered from the steep losses recorded earlier, but only the Korean index moved above its previous close. The Nikkei's close left it down for the session, while the KOSPI's increase put it in positive territory. South Korea's index therefore advanced even as the two listed shares each fell, underscoring that the market's rebound was not uniform.