FRANCE: Asian stocks rose Thursday after Wall Street rebounded from a sharp sell-off and as a holiday in China gave investors a break from its torrid markets.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 1.4 percent to 18,352.98 and South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.2 percent to 1,918.34. Stock markets in Southeast Asia also rose while Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.5 percent to 5,077.00. New Zealand’s benchmark also fell. Taiwan’s benchmark added 0.5 percent to 8,072.27. Markets were closed in China, which has suffered a dramatic slide since June, and Hong Kong.
“With US stocks rebounding and mild gains from European markets, we could see some wind keeping Asian equities airborne today,” said IG market strategist Bernard Aw in a commentary. “Without China to provide guidance, improved sentiments from the Street would provide trading clues for Asian investors.”
Attention is turning to the European Central Bank’s meeting on Thursday as weak commodity prices and slowing global growth work against its efforts to stimulate inflation and economic growth. Some analysts think the ECB might need to expand its 1.1 trillion euro ($1.2 trillion) of quantitative easing to stoke inflation but most aren’t expecting any tweaks to that policy to be announced imminently. The U.S. Federal Reserve, which has been inching toward its first rate hike since the 2008 financial crisis, is also flashing brightly on the radar of investors as its policy meeting set for Sept. 16-17 approaches.
U.S. stocks rebounded Wednesday, recovering a significant portion of their losses from the day earlier. Investors remain on edge after the latest market plunge, which was triggered by more signs of slowing growth in China. The Dow Jones industrial average added 293.03 points, or 1.8 percent, to 16,351.38. It fell more than 470 points the day before. The Standard & Poor’s 500 rose 35.01 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,948.86 and the Nasdaq composite rose 113.87 points, or 2.5 percent, 4,749.98.
