Asian stocks rebound from rout as Fed faces calls to cut rates early

HONG KONG: Asian equities rallied on Tuesday (Aug 6) after the previous day’s global rout fuelled by US recession fears that have led to calls for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates before its next meeting.

Tokyo, which suffered a record loss on Monday, soared more than 10 per cent at one point as traders rushed back to pick up beaten-down stocks caught up in a catastrophic day for markets in which trading boards were a sea of red.

Analysts warned that there would likely be more volatility to come.

The sell-off came on the back of data on Friday revealing a surprisingly low number of US jobs were created last month, and another report showing continuing weakness in the manufacturing sector.

That led to warnings that the Fed had kept rates at more than two-decade highs for too long and was at risk of tipping the economy into recession.

Some analysts pointed to the “Sahm Rule,” which says an economy is in the early stages of recession if the three-month moving average of unemployment is 0.5 percentage points above its low over the previous 12 months. That was triggered by Friday’s data.

While Wall Street’s three main indexes suffered another day of pain– with the Nasdaq down more than 3 per cent – a forecast-beating read on the key US services sector provided a little solace for investors.

Tokyo’s Nikkei, which tanked more than 12 per cent on Monday and suffered a record points loss, jumped around 10.5 per cent in the morning before paring some of those gains.

Toyota was up more than 10 per cent, Sony piled on more than 7 per cent, while chip giant Tokyo Electron added 12.26 per cent.

“This is a sweeping, across-the-board gain,” said analysts at Nomura, adding that investors will also pay close attention to the forex market.

Nomura expects the Nikkei to end with the biggest-ever gain, beating 2,676.55 points in October 1990.

“If movements continue as they started, the Nikkei ended yesterday with the biggest loss and will end today by renewing the biggest point gain,” it said.