Stocks rose around the world, rebounding after a quarter of volatile trading that’s wiped almost $11 trillion off the value of global shares, while treasuries, gold and the yen retreated as haven demand ebbed. Malaysia’s ringgit trimmed its biggest three-month loss since 1997.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed for the first time this week, while US equity-index futures also rose. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index pared a fifth straight monthly decline, the longest streak since the 2008 global financial crisis. Australia’s dollar advanced with the ringgit, as the Bloomberg JP Morgan Asia Dollar Index headed for its biggest quarterly drop in seven years. The yield on 10-year treasuries rose from a one-month low.
The latest episode of equity selling was spurred by concern that mining and trading companies are being threatened by higher borrowing costs amid a prolonged bear market for commodities. That came amid the collapse in mainland China’s equity bubble, selloffs in US technology and biotechnology firms and an exodus from emerging-market assets as the world prepares for the Federal Reserve’s first interest-rate increase since 2006. Chinese markets close for a five-day holiday from Thursday, with the US payrolls report due later this week.
The MSCI All-Country World Index rose 0.8% in London, heading for an 11% loss since June 30, its steepest slump since 2011. The Stoxx 600 jumped 1.6%.
Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index added 1%, rising with contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The US benchmark reversed a drop of as much as 0.5% to end Tuesday up 0.1% amid a rebound in the last 30 minutes.
MSCI’s Asia Pacific gauge rallied 2.1%, trimming its loss since the end of June to less than 16%, still the most since at least the third quarter of 2011.
The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.5% Wednesday. Its 29% drop is the worst performance of any major index globally this quarter. The Hong Kong gauge rose 2.5% Wednesday, while the Hang Seng Index advanced 1.6%.
Japan’s Topix index jumped 2.6% to cap its worst monthly loss since May 2012 and its biggest quarterly decline since 2010. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 Index rose 2.1% Wednesday, trimming its quarterly slump to 8%.
Currencies
The Aussie pared its worst quarter since the June 2013, rising 0.2% with New Zealand’s dollar. The Aussie has lost more than 9% since the end of June.
The yen weakened 0.2% to 119.95 per dollar after rising 0.7% the past two days. The euro slipped 0.3% to $1.1221.
The Asia Dollar Index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies outside of Japan, has dropped 4.1% this quarter, its worst performance since 2008. Malaysia’s ringgit led the rout with a 15% slide.
