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Most Asian markets rebound after Wall Street rout

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-11-21 14:33

BANGKOK, Thailand -- Most Asian markets rebounded Friday after days of sharp declines in global markets as investors scooped up battered financial and technology shares.

A board on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange shows the closing number for the Dow Jones Industrial Average Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008. Stocks have plunged again to levels not seen in more than five years as hopes fade that lawmakers will soon put together an aid package for US automakers. [Agencies]

Major regional benchmarks opened lower after Wall Street touched multiyear lows overnight but surged into positive territory by midday. Oil prices, which had fallen below $49 a barrel to three-year lows in early Asian trading, also edged higher.

Still, with signs of recession spreading around the globe, the outlook remained grim.

"After tanking for so many days there will always be a belief that you just can't draw a straight line down. There may be a day or a day and a half of respite," said Song Seng Wun, head of research at CIMB Securities in Singapore.

"But there is still a lot of uncertainty. If there was some announcement of help for the US auto industry that might buy us some time but the strategy still seems to be to sell into any strength," he said.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average rose 60.28 points, or 0.8 percent, to 7,763.32 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index jumped 553.22 points, or 4.5 percent, to 12.851.78 points.

South Korea's Kospi rose 3.7 percent and Australia's market was up 1.7 percent.

On the down side, Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.7 percent and markets in the Philippines and Indonesia also declined.

US stock index futures were higher, suggesting Wall Street would bounce back after a crushing two-day 10.6 percent plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average, its worst two-day percentage loss since October 1987.

Wall Street on Thursday suffered another late-session rout as hopes faded that lawmakers would quickly assemble an aid package for US automakers. Stocks were also battered by worries the $700 billion Wall Street bailout won't be big enough and oil plunging to a three-year low on expectations of a global economic recession.

The S&P 500 index fell 6.7 percent to its lowest close since April 1997. The Dow, meanwhile, fell 445 points, or 5.6 percent, to its lowest close since March 2003.

Dow futures were up 186 points, or 2.5 percent, to 7,673, while S&P 500 futures were up 17 points, or 2.3 percent, to 765.3.

In Asian trading, light, sweet oil for January delivery edged up 25 cents to $49.67 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier falling as low as $48.25, the lowest since May 2005.

Financial and technology stocks led the recovery in Asia.

"There's a little bit of strength coming back into beaten-down stocks," said Andrew Yates, vice president of foreign institutional sales at Asia Plus Securities in Bangkok. "But the volumes are not great so it's difficult to call a bottom particularly with the macro picture being so weak."

In Europe Thursday, Britain's FTSE 100 index closed down 130.69 points, or 3.3 percent, at 3,874.99, while Germany's DAX fell 3.1 percent to 4,220.20. The CAC-40 in France sank 3.5 percent to 2,980.42.