Asian stocks rally following US rebound

Japanese equities fall

Asian stocks have rebounded as global equity markets recover from the early February sell-off, which saw $2trn wiped from the value of US firms.

Hong Kong and Chinese stocks led gains, with the Hang Seng and Shanghai Composite indexes up 1.6% and 1.2% respectively, after the S&P 500 Index posted its biggest two-day advance in 18 months and the Cboe Volatility Index fell, according to Bloomberg. However, while Japanese shares initially took part in the rally, the Topix index closed down 0.9%, after rising 1.1%. Meanwhile, the Nikkei Stock Average fell 0.7% as a stronger yen weighed on the shares of exporters. Korea's Kospi index gained 0.7% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6% as the MSCI Asia Pacific rallied 0.4% overall. ...