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Asian shares rebound on China policy

Tuesday, March 05 07:59:24

Asian shares rebounded sharply today, reclaiming most of the previous day's steep losses triggered by slumping Chinese stocks, as a globally accommodative monetary stance helped revive risk appetite.

European markets are also seen climbing, with financial spreadbetters predicting London's FTSE 100, Paris's CAC-40 and Frankfurt's DAX would open up as much as 0.6 percent. A nearly flat showing in U.S. stock futures pointed to a subdued Wall Street start.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan jumped 1 percent after tumbling 1.3 percent when Chinese shares dived on concerns Beijing's move to tighten the housing market could weigh on growth on Monday.

China shares rebounded from a two-month closing low, lifting Hong Kong markets up 0.1 percent, as worries about policy tightening ebbed after the central bank refrained from draining funds following a sharp dip in rates in the money market. Shanghai shares rose 0.9 percent.

The latest data confirmed a modest rebound in the world's second-biggest economy this year, with the private February HSBC Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) falling to 52.1 from January's 54.0, after seasonal adjustments.

Beijing pledged to boost fiscal spending in a bid to deliver economic growth of 7.5 percent this year, with outgoing Premier Wen Jiabao setting out a reform plan as China's annual parliament meetings got under way on Tuesday.

"The Chinese economy will decelerate from the second quarter, but the slowdown is not significant enough to derail the economic recovery," said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior economist and strategist for non-Japan Asia at Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong, adding that Monday's sell-off in Chinese shares was "justifiable" because markets tend to move ahead of growth direction. Reuters