Asian stocks gain after Wall Street rebounds from tech slump

Asian stock markets advanced Thursday after Wall Street rebounded from a three-day slump for tech stocks.

Benchmarks in Shanghai, Tokyo and Seoul. Sydney was little-changed.

The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.3% to 3,264.19 and the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo added 0.6% to 23,173.89. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong was little-changed at 24,478.69. The Kospi in Seoul advanced 1.1% to 2,402.01 and Sydney's ASX-S&P 500 was little-changed at 5,875.70. India's Sensex opened up 1% at 38,566.11. New Zealand and Bangkok advanced while Singapore and Jakarta declined.

Wall Street's S&P 500 index ended Wednesday up 2% for its best day in three months.

Investors were snapping up lower-priced shares and were encouraged by hopes of possible additional stimulus from the European Central Bank, analysts said. But they warned the recovery was fragile. 

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"To the extent that ‘buy the dip’ mentality persists, this market may possess a somewhat more stubborn bullish streak,” said Mizuho Bank. However, "markets will be prone to more volatility given the opportunistic elements of the rebound and potential pain that ‘group think’ begs,” it said.

Global stock markets have recovered most of this year's losses, but that was based largely on strong gains for tech stocks while other companies still are lower.

Forecasters warn the stock price recovery might be too big and too early to be supported by uncertain economic activity as coronavirus infection numbers rise in the United States, Brazil and some other countries. Some governments have re-imposed anti-disease controls that hamper business.

On Wednesday, Apple, Amazon and other U.S. tech companies that had lost momentum late last week all regained some ground.

The S&P 500 rallied to 3,398.96. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1.6%, to 27,940.47.

The Nasdaq composite, which includes many tech stocks, rose 2.7% to 11,141.56. It had dropped 10% over the previous three days.

Associated Press