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Stock markets rally after steep declines

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-10-29 07:47

Stock markets worldwide rebounded yesterday after several days of steep declines as investors snapped up beaten-down shares.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose a whopping 14.4 percent - its biggest gain in 11 years - to 12596.29, a day after plunging more than 12 percent. South Korea's Kospi jumped 5.6 percent to 999.16.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index surged 459.02 points, or 6.4 percent, to 7621.92 after earlier falling to fresh 26-year lows.

A weaker yen against the dollar encouraged traders to buy exporters like Toyota and Sony, whose overseas earnings are eroded by a strong currency.

"Extreme pessimism eased in the market as sentiment cheered the yen's retreat and sharp gains across Asia," said Yutaka Miura, senior strategist at Shinko Securities in Tokyo.

He also said that the Nikkei's fall below 7,000 points spurred buying.

The Chinese mainland's main index, which had fallen 6 percent in the morning, turned positive in the day.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index gained 2.81 percent, or 48.47 points, to close at 1771.82. The Shenzhen index rose 2.73 percent, or 156.31 points, to close at 5891.12 points.

"The market can't fall forever," said Francis Lun, general manager of Fulbright Securities Ltd in Hong Kong.

Lun said the Hang Seng's huge drop on Monday was bringing buyers back to seek bargains and scoop up blue chips that had tumbled. He pointed to banking giant HSBC, which had declined on Monday to levels not seen since the SARS epidemic in 2003.

In Europe, stocks rose in early trading. London's FTSE 100 index gained almost 3 percent, Germany's DAX jumped 4.4 percent and France's CAC-40 rose nearly 3 percent.

Wall Street shook off more signs of global economic troubles yesterday and carved out a sizable rebound as investors awaited the Federal Reserve's next move on interest rates. The major indices each rose more than 3.5 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which jumped 300 points.

Australia's key stock measure closed down 0.4 percent, though sharply paring earlier losses. Singapore's market index, also down more than 5 percent in morning trading, turned green in afternoon trading.

In South Korea, the buying was driven by domestic investors following the biggest rate cut ever by the central bank on Monday.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/29/2008 page1)