China stocks rebound 5.3%; most global markets rise

China’s key stock market index surged 5.3 <g data-gr-id="17">per cent</g> on Thursday, its biggest gain in eight weeks, as markets across Asia rose following Wall Street’s rebound, giving investors some relief after gut-wrenching global losses.

The Shanghai Composite Index, whose steep drop in recent days triggered worldwide selling, gained 5.3 per cent to close at 3,083.59 points, bouncing back from losses that wiped some 20 per cent off its value over the past week. 

It was the biggest one-day gain since a 5.5 <g data-gr-id="19">per cent</g> rise on June 30. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 2.9 <g data-gr-id="20">per cent</g> to 21,697.31 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 added 1.1 <g data-gr-id="21">per cent</g> to 18,574.44. 

Sydney’s S&P ASX 200 advanced 1.2 <g data-gr-id="22">per cent</g> to 5,233.30 and Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.7 <g data-gr-id="23">per cent</g> to 1,908.00. Markets in Singapore, Bangkok, New Zealand and Jakarta also rose. European markets also advanced in early trading. France’s CAC-40 added 2.1 <g data-gr-id="24">per cent</g> to 4,597.36 and Germany’s DAX gained 2.4 <g data-gr-id="25">per cent</g> to 10,240.92. The gains came after Wall Street rocketed up overnight. The Dow Jones industrial average soaring more than 600 points, or 4 <g data-gr-id="26">per cent</g>. That was its third-biggest point gain of all time and its largest since October 28, 2008. 

Traders were encouraged by comments from William Dudley, president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, that the case for a US interest rate hike in September is “less compelling to me than it was a few weeks ago,” given China’s troubles, falling oil prices and weakness in emerging 

markets.