Asian stocks rallied as congressional leaders in Washington agreed on a $2tn package to soften the US economic blow from coronavirus, the prospect of which had on Tuesday propelled Wall Street to its best day in more than a decade.

Japan’s Topix closed up 6.9 per cent while South Korea’s Kospi index finished trading 5.5 per cent higher. China’s CSI 300 added 2.7 per cent and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 3.1 per cent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed up 5.5 per cent ahead of the  deal being struck.

Markets are putting faith in unprecedented intervention by governments around the world. Senior Senate Republicans and Democrats said late on Tuesday that they had agreed on the biggest congressional bailout in US history after the support package had twice been delayed by arguments over what to include.