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• Asian stocks rose on Thursday as bruised investor sentiment got some relief from another robust Wall Street session, while the pound rallied on a report Britain has secured a deal that would give its financial services firms continued access to European markets after Brexit.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.9 percent, adding to modest gains the previous day, though this came after a brutal October month.

The pound surged 0.65 percent to $1.2850 after the Times reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May had sealed a deal with Brussels that would give British financial services companies continued access to European markets after Brexit.

• Japan’s Nikkei fell on Thursday, pulled down by large cap mobile phone companies after NTT Docomo said lower service fees will start hitting its earnings next year, stoking concerns about the profit outlook for the sector.

On the first trading day of November, the Nikkei share average dropped 1.1 percent to 21,687.65 points. It fell 9.1 percent in October, its biggest monthly decline since June 2016.

NTT Docomo Inc said that it would reduce service fees by 20-40 percent in April-June that would affect its earnings from the next fiscal year. Its shares nosedived over 15 percent to a two-year low.

• Chinese shares rose on Thursday after a bruising October that saw the country’s blue-chip index drop more than 8 percent, and as Beijing continued to take steps to support domestic markets.

At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was up 1.13 percent at 2,632.22 points.

China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was up 1.87 percent, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.9 percent, the consumer staples sector up 4.44 percent, the real estate index up 1.7 percent and the healthcare sub-index up 2.69 percent.