SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Stocks in Asia rebounded from recent losses on Wednesday as investors sought bargains, a day after the specter of a U.S.-China trade war rattled global markets, but significant uncertainty around the trade outlook is capping gains.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 was 0.1 percent higher after earlier falling into negative territory. South Korea's KOSPI .KS11 rose 1 percent.
In China, the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC was down 0.3 percent in early trade, a day after falling 3.8 percent. Wednesday's fall came despite 30 listed firms announcing share purchase plans by major shareholders, and state media expressing confidence in the country's stock markets.
China's blue-chip CSI300 index .CSI300 was 0.2 percent lower after briefly flirting with gains, and the Shenzhen Composite Index .SZSC was up 0.1 percent.
“U.S.-China trade frictions remain broadly negative for the market and for investor sentiment, and are likely to weigh on forward earnings given the ongoing uncertainties coupled with a high base effect when compared with last year’s performance,” said Raymond Ma, portfolio manager at Fidelity International.
In contrast, Australian stocks gained 0.8 percent, supported by weakness in the Australian dollar. The Aussie dollar AUD= was up 0.2 percent after hitting a one-year low on Tuesday.
Strength in Australian shares continued to support MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS, which rose 0.4 percent.
Investors in cryptocurrencies were also hit by losses after South Korean virtual currency exchange Bithumb said it had been hacked and 35 billion won worth of virtual currency held at the exchange was stolen.
