Asian markets add decent gains

Some risk appetite comes back as Euro recovers

Asian markets mostly ended higher amid strong cues from the US stock futures and a powerful advance in commodities, primarily crude oil as the US Dollar slipped and traders eyed a moderate bounce back in the markets on bargain hunting. Markets also eyed upbeat economic data from the US, where the consumer confidence index of the U.S. Conference Board made a significant gain in May to stand at 63.3- its two year high. However, the sentiments are still uncertain, as North Korea has threatened "all-out war" in response to any punitive moves by the South following the sinking of a South Korean warship.

The euro was in good touch today. The currency continued its recent downward trend and hit lows around 1.2200 mark yesterday coming near its four year lows due to concerns about the health of the European Union's banking system. Spain's central bank was forced to seize assets of savings bank CajaSur, while four other regional banks agreed to merge in an effort to shore up their balance sheets. The single currency recovered today though, hitting highs above 1.2400 and currently trades well above 1.2300.

Australian shares clawed back some of the previous day's losses, but the market closed well off its intraday high, as investors were unwilling to enter long at the high levels. At the local close, the benchmark S&P/ASX200 Index was up 41.9 points, or 1 per cent, at 4307.2, but well off the day's high of 4365.6. The broader All Ordinaries Index gained 44.1 points, or 1.1 per cent, at 4330.4.

In Japan, markets had a mixed outing. The Topix index fell 0.1 percent to 859 as of the close in Tokyo, with almost twice as many shares declining as advancing. The Nikkei 225 Stock Average added 0.7 percent to 9,522.66, its first gain in six days. The Topix has tumbled 14 percent from its high this year on April 15 on concern mounting budget deficits in some European countries will derail global growth

In China, shares closed mixed with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edging up 0.12 percent to 2,625.79 points as the 2600 points levels managed to hold ground. The Shenzhen Component Index lost 0.03 percent, or 3.53 points, to 10,361.70 points. Total turnover shrank to 140.58 billion yuan (20.58 billion U.S. dollars) from 184.69 billion yuan on the previous trading day.

In Mumbai, the key benchmark indices rebounded from 3-1/2 month lows hit on Tuesday, 25 May 2010, tracking recovery in world stocks triggered by bargain hunting after a recent sharp slide. All the sectoral indices on BSE were in green. The BSE 30-share Sensex was provisionally up 357.15 points or 2.23%, off close to 30 points from the day's high and up close to 310 points from the days low.

In other markets, Straits Times in Singapore surged 1.71% while TSEC in added 1.14% and Hang Seng in Hong Kong jumped 1.11%.

The world avoided a great economic depression and will recover thanks to close cooperation from the international community with the US consumer demand acting as the engine of worldwide growth said IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn yesterday, according to media reports. However, he noted that the European debt crisis remains the biggest threat to a global economic recovery.

In commodities, crude oil spurted sharply today, hitting a high of nearly $71 per barrel as the markets witnessed very good buying ahead of the weekly US inventories data. Copper and other base metals added good gains to while Gold surged above $1200 an ounce, moving on as strong investment demand remained as a key anchor