Asian stocks mixed but China fear weighs

Asian markets were mixed on Wednesday as a rebound on Wall Street settled nerves after a two-day sell-off sparked by weak Chinese growth data. The dollar and euro also recovered against the yen, while gold levelled out after suffering its worst fall in 30 years on Monday. Tokyo climbed 1.22 percent, or 161.45 points, to 13,382.89, Sydney rose 1.09 percent, or 53.8 points, to 5,004.6 and Seoul was flat, edging up 1.63 points to 1,923.84. But Shanghai ended flat, dipping 1.05 point to 2,193.80, while Hong Kong fell 0.47 percent, or 102.36 points, to 21,569.67 as an early rally was wiped out by continuing fears about the strength of the mainland Chinese economy. Traders moved in to pick up cheap stocks on Wednesday after the previous day's sell-off, which was inflamed by a double bomb attack on Boston that killed at least three people and injured more than 180. Wall Street provided a strong cue thanks to upbeat data on housing starts and good earnings reports from corporate giants including Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson and chipmaker Intel. The Dow, which on Monday suffered its worst fall in five months, jumped 1.08 percent, while the S&P 500 climbed 1.43 percent back towards recent record highs. The tech-based Nasdaq added 1.50 percent. On bullion markets, gold prices remain subdued but are well up from the two-year lows of around US$1,338.00 seen on Monday in New York -- representing an intra-day fall of 10 percent, the biggest drop since 1983. The precious metal plunged after China released data showing the economy grew at a slower pace in January-March than it did in the previous three months, fuelling concerns a pick-up in the world's number two economy remained fragile. An ounce of gold fetched US$1,378.66 by 0800 GMT, compared with US$1,391.10 late Tuesday in Asia. Japan's Nikkei index was boosted by a rise in the value of the dollar and euro against the yen. The dollar stood at 98.20 yen in afternoon Asian trade, compared with 97.79 yen in New York Tuesday afternoon. The greenback had fallen to as low as 96 yen during a global flight to safety on Monday. Dealers expect the unit to break the 100-yen mark soon owing to the Bank of Japan's huge stimulus programme unveiled earlier this month. The euro bought 129.20 yen, up from 128.86 yen, after sinking to 126 yen Monday. The euro was also at US$1.3177, against US$1.3180. Oil prices were mixed. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, fell 10 cents to US$88.62 a barrel but Brent North Sea crude for June was up 11 cents at US$100.02. The Brent contract on Tuesday fell below the US$100 mark for the first time since July.