Asia stocks up after rocky week

Asian stocks are higher in early trade, tracking sharp gains in overseas markets.

electronic board Tokyo Nikkei stock exchange

Asian stocks have edged up on the back of overnight rallies on Wall Street and in Europe, but dealers said the market remained volatile after a rollercoaster week.

US and European shares posted solid gains after falls in Asia on Thursday, but against a background of intense volatility and lingering global uncertainty.

“The high volatility in US and European stocks are likely to continue for some time until fundamental issues are addressed,” Yutaka Miura, senior technical analyst at Mizuho Securities, told Dow Jones Newswires.

Japanese stocks pushed higher in early trade on Friday, with shares rising 0.94 per cent. The Nikkei index at the Tokyo Stock Exchange added 84.41 points to 9,066.35 in the first minutes of trading.

South Korean shares also began the day higher, opening up 1.47 per cent.

But most of the gains quickly disappeared after institutional investors and foreigners turned net sellers, with the benchmark KOSPI hovering around 1,822 points, up 0.3 per cent early on.

Australian stocks jumped 1.3 per cent at the start, with the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 up 52.2 points at 4,193.0 on the back of the Dow Jones Industrial Average posting a 3.94 per cent gain.

Short-selling restricted

Meanwhile, the speculative practice of short-selling will be restricted from Friday in Belgium, France, Italy and Spain to combat “false rumours” that have destabilised the markets, European regulators said.


Maricruz Magowan an economic and political analyst speaks about the economy

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said in a statement that the four countries “will shortly announce new bans on short-selling or on short positions.

“This was “to restrict the benefits that can be achieved from spreading false rumours or to achieve a regulatory level playing field, given the close inter-linkage between some EU markets.”

In France the chairman of the Financial Markets Authority (AMF), Jean-Pierre Jouyet, told AFP the body had decided to ban short-selling of 11 shares for two weeks.

The ESMA did not detail the measures to be taken in the other three countries.

The decisions were taken after securities regulators in Paris said the French stock market had plunged since Wednesday because of unfounded rumours.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies