OVERSEAS : Exchanges Rebound as Mideast Tensions Ease : Securities: Bargain hunters step in. Analysts warn that the rise is merely a technical bounce.
Overseas stock markets rocketed higher Monday as fears of war in the Mideast lessened and as bargain hunters stepped in.
But analysts also cautioned that, as with the U.S. market, much of the overseas buying constituted a technical bounce from drastically oversold conditions. Such rallies are typical within sustained market downturns, experts warned.
London and Hong Kong markets were closed for a bank holiday. A rundown of other foreign markets:
* TOKYO: Stocks closed with their ninth-biggest one-day gain in points, mainly on technical buying in thin trading after the sharp plunge last week.
The 225-share Nikkei average gained 976, or 4%, to 25,141.76 after adding 428.13 on Friday. By midday today, the Nikkei climbed 518.52, or 2.1%, to 25,660.28.
Bargain hunters chased stocks seen as undervalued or oversold, but concern about the Persian Gulf crisis kept major investors sidelined. Still, “the market should soon bottom out as it has already absorbed all the current negative factors,” argued Toyoharu Tsutsui, managing director at CS First Boston (Japan) Ltd.
* FRANKFURT: West German share prices soared after heavy losses last week. Hopes ran high for a diplomatic resolution to the Persian Gulf crisis, dealers said.
Frankfurt’s 30-share DAX index staged its biggest one-day point rise on record, jumping 95.76, or 6.1%, to 1,654.80. Monday’s rise all but wiped out a fall of 106.70 last week.
* PARIS: The CAC-40 index of leading shares rocketed on foreign buying and short-covering after last week’s sharp drop. It closed up 82.30, or 5.1%, at 1,699.72 in moderate trading, dealers said.
It was a record one-day point gain for the CAC-40, which was introduced in 1988.
* ZURICH: Helped by a firm opening on Wall Street and a strong rebound in other European markets, Swiss shares closed sharply higher in what dealers termed fairly active trading, led by blue chips. The all-share SPI index rose 35.8, or 3.6%, to 1,024.1.
* SYDNEY: The Australian market closed firmer in nervous, quiet trading, with sentiment helped by substantial gains in Tokyo. Industrial stocks led the way on bargain hunting. The All Ordinaries index gained 7.8 points to close at 1,477.3.
* TORONTO: Stocks closed little changed, with heavy losses in gold and oil shares offsetting gains in blue chips that had been buoyed by a strong rally on Wall Street.
The composite index slipped 3 points to 3,358.30 on volume of 18.7 million shares. Declines led advances 321 to 246.
* SINGAPORE: The Straits Times index jumped 40.17, or 3.5%, to 1,198.23.
