Markets generally favour a balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, as this reduces the chances of major policy changes that could affect the economy.Asian markets saw mixed trading, with gains in China and Hong Kong offset by losses in Japan, Australia and Taiwan. Global stock markets traded mostly higher on Wednesday after the US midterm elections gave the Democratic Party majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

The results are expected to bring greater resistance to President Donald Trump's policies, while investors continue to keep a close watch on technology stocks and developments around artificial intelligence (AI), reported AP.US stock futures also moved higher, with the futures for the S&P 500 gaining 0.2% and those for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.4%. Oil prices, meanwhile, retreated.The election results marked a setback for Republican governance and are likely to make it harder for the Trump administration to push through its policy plans.Markets generally favour a balance of power between Republicans and Democrats in Washington, as this reduces the chances of major policy changes that could affect the economy.

Stephen Brown of Capital Economics said the Democratic gains were unlikely to bring major changes to the near-term policy outlook. He pointed out that the party still lacks a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate, while Trump retains the power to veto legislation.EUROPEAN MARKETS TRADE HIGHEREuropean stock markets opened mostly in positive territory on Wednesday.

France's CAC 40 rose 0.4% to 8,055.02, while Britain's FTSE 100 edged up 0.1% to 10,646.43. Germany's DAX gained 0.5% to 25,995.13.Investors were also waiting for the eurozone's preliminary consumer price index (CPI) data for October.

The Bank of England's interest rate decision, scheduled for Thursday, was another key event on their radar.ASIAN MARKETS GIVE MIXED SIGNALSAsian markets saw mixed trading, with gains in China and Hong Kong offset by losses in Japan, Australia and Taiwan.Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.4% to 62,188.63. Shares of SoftBank Group, an investor in OpenAI, dropped 3.2%, while memory chipmaker Kioxia Holdings declined 5.4%.

Kioxia's losses came after its October-December guidance fell short of market expectations.South Korea's Kospi rose 0.6% to 5,683.80. However, shares of SK Hynix slipped 0.1%, while Samsung Electronics fell 0.7%.Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 1.5% to 23,888.46.

China's Shanghai Composite climbed 2.2% to 3,686.17, recovering after touching a yearly low on Tuesday.Australia's S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.6% to 8,834.50 after the country's central bank raised interest rates on Tuesday. Taiwan's Taiex declined 0.8%, while India's Sensex gained 0.3%.WALL STREET GAINS AS AI STOCKS SUPPORT MARKETSOn Tuesday, the S&P 500 closed 0.4% higher, even though most stocks in the index ended lower.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 197 points, or 0.4%, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8%.Chipmakers Nvidia and Broadcom provided strong support to the S&P 500. Shares of Microsoft, Amazon and Meta Platforms also rose more than 2% each, as investors continued to favour companies investing heavily in AI.However, concerns about high valuations of technology stocks have led to bouts of selling in recent sessions.Apple is also feeling the impact of the AI boom, despite being seen as less dependent on the technology than some of its Big Tech peers.Rising demand for memory chips, driven by the expansion of AI data centres, has pushed up their prices.

This is increasing costs for Apple, which expects its profit margin on every dollar of revenue to decline during the final three months of the year.Some companies also saw their shares rise after reporting better-than-expected summer profits. DuPont gained 8.6%, while Celanese climbed 5%.US JOB MARKET DATA LIFTS TREASURY YIELDSInvestors also took note of an encouraging report on the US job market.

Employers advertised more job openings at the end of September than economists had expected.The data pushed the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond to 4.96% from 4.91% late on Monday.Companies are expected to continue reporting strong profit growth as the US economy remains steady, despite high inflation and elevated interest rates.In commodities trading on Wednesday, Brent Crude, the international benchmark, rose 0.4% to $103.88 a barrel. US benchmark crude gained 0.3% to $96.34 per barrel.In currency markets, the US dollar weakened against the Japanese yen, slipping to 158.17 yen from 158.69 yen.The euro strengthened against the dollar, rising to $1.1242 from $1.1194.- Ends