ASIA MARKETS: Nikkei Jumps As Other Asian Markets Try To Recover From Wednesday Selloff

Volatility expected to continue ahead of U.S., China job data

Asia stocks steadied early Thursday after European and U.S. equities overnight showed scant reaction to big stock declines a day earlier in the region.

The Nikkei Stock Average , which recorded its second-worst day of 2017 percentage-wise on Wednesday, rebounded 1.2%.

"Fundamentals haven't really changed, so investors will be looking for opportunities to buy," said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG Group.

But she expects volatility to continue ahead of Friday's November readings on Chinese trade and U.S. jobs.

The tech sector helped lead gains on the Nikkei, with Hitachi (HTHIY) and Tokyo Electron (8035.TO) up some 2%. The yen also eased; the dollar was recently at Yen112.40 versus Yen112.11 at yesterday's Tokyo stock-market close.

Benchmarks in South Korea and Taiwan started lower. The Kospi was down 0.6% and the Taiex fell 0.4% after both shed some 1.5% on Wednesday. The Kospi's decline came despite index heavyweight Samsung (005930.SE) rising slightly; Hanmi Pharma (128940.SE) skidded 4%.

In Australia, stocks rose and the Australian dollar sank after data showed the country's trade surplus fell sharply in October. The S&P/ASX 200 was recently up 0.7%.

Away from stocks, bitcoin continued to surge, hitting $14,000 for the first time, according to CoinDesk, after breaching the $12,000 mark for the first time just a day ago.

Oil futures rose 0.3% in Asia after a near-3% slide overnight in the U.S., following the jump in gasoline supplies last week. That raised questions about demand for the fuel, and hence the near-term need for oil.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 06, 2017 23:25 ET (04:25 GMT)