New York Report: Relief as stock prices rebound in US markets
WALL Street stock prices rose yesterday, helping world shares steady after they hit a near four-month low, while the yen and US and German government debt prices fell as jitters over emerging markets retreated.
Renewed bids for US equities bolstered the dollar and oil and pared the safe-haven demand for gold.
Monday’s sharp decline on weaker-than-expected US data, concerns over growth in China and the outlook for some emerging economies opened the door for traders looking for bargains, analysts said.
After the previous session’s pounding, the Dow Jones industrial average ended up 72.44 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 15,445.24. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index closed up 13.31 points, or 0.76 per cent, at 1,755.20. The Nasdaq Composite Index finished up 34.56 points, or 0.86 per cent, at 4,031.52.
US factory orders released shortly after the Wall Street open bolstered the fragile mood. Nevertheless, lingering anxiety about troubles in emerging markets and uneasiness over the upcoming US jobs report on Friday kept traders on edge.
Emerging market stocks came back from a 1.4 per cent drop to end 0.8 per cent lower, while hard-hit currencies including Turkey’s lira, Russia’s rouble, Hungary’s forint and the South African rand all moved away from their recent lows.
As the severity in the selloff in emerging markets abated, the dollar improved slightly against major currencies, bouncing back from a more than two-month low of 100.74 yen earlier.