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Markets across the region - including the NZX - rebounded sharply yesterday as optimism grew about the new rescue plan going before the US Senate.
The local sharemarket regained almost all of the heavy losses it suffered the day before. The NZX-50 closed up 97.75 points, or 3.16 per cent, to 3187.96, having fallen 98.3 points on Tuesday. The volatility was mirrored across the Tasman where billions poured back into the ASX-200. It closed up 4.2 per cent reversing almost all of Tuesday's 4.3 per cent slump.
Gains were also strong around Asia where Japan's Nikkei closed up 1 per cent at 11,368.26. In Britain, the FTSE-100 was up 1.42 per cent in early trading last night.
"The market mood has calmed down from yesterday's panic sell-off as investors realised that ... the bailout plan can be still approved," said Tokyo fund manager Junichi Misawa. "Having said that, we can't let down our guard yet as there is still a lot of uncertainty about the plan."
The US Senate was due to vote this morning on a new version of the US$700 billion bailout package for Wall St. While the revised deal was expected to pass it still faces the tougher test of gaining approval from Congress - which rejected the earlier version on Tuesday morning.
