Sydney — Asian equities got some welcome relief on Wednesday after upbeat US earnings reports drove a rebound on Wall Street and helped restore a little faith in emerging-market stocks and currencies. Japan’s Nikkei galloped out of the gates with a rise of 1.7%, but still has a way to go to recoup the past week’s losses. “The Nikkei appears to have bottomed out,” said Soichiro Monji, senior economist at Daiwa SB Investments. “The latest tumble was not driven by convincing factors — the market may have needed to adjust after its sharp rally and upcoming corporate earnings should provide evidence of solid economic fundamentals.” MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan added 0.7% and South Korea 1.2%, while spread-betters pointed to opening gains for the major European bourses. Chinese blue chips, however, lagged with a gain of only 0.2% and threatened to sour the mood. On Wall Street, the three major indices had tallied their biggest one-day percentage gains since M...
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