Asia stocks rally as Fed fears ease; Nikkei ends up 3%

Asian stock markets rallied on Thursday to rebound from recent losses, after a downward revision to U.S. first quarter growth dampened expectations that the Federal Reserve could begin to unwind its asset purchase program later this year.

Market sentiment got a further boost amid improvement in China’s strained money markets.

During late Asian trade, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index was up 1%, Australia’s ASX/200 Index ended 1.7% higher, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index closed up 3%.

The Commerce Department said Wednesday that U.S. gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 1.8% in the three months to March, below an earlier estimate of 2.4% growth. Economists had expected the rate of growth to remain unchanged at 2.4%.

The disappointing data eased fears the Fed will begin to taper its bond purchase program in the coming months.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei surged on hopes the Fed will maintain its bond purchases for longer.

USD/JPY rose to hit a session high of 98.10, compared to the previous day’s low of 97.22. A weaker yen increases the value of overseas income at Japanese companies when repatriated, boosting the outlook for export earnings.

Shares in automakers Toyota and Honda rallied 3.5% and 3.2% respectively, while Sony and Canon added 1.7% and 1.1% apiece.

Japanese megabanks were also higher, with shares in the nation’s largest lender Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group climbing 1.7%, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group tacked on 3% and 2.1% respectively.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng moved further away from a nine-month low hit earlier in the week amid easing concerns over a credit crunch in the country’s banking sector.

The People’s Bank of China said earlier in the week that it will guide interest rates to a “reasonable range”.

Elsewhere, in Australia, the benchmark ASX/200 Index continued its bounce off a six-month low hit earlier in the week as global miners moved higher.

Fortescue Metals Group saw shares rise 2.3%, while gold miner Newcrest Mining surged 6.4%.

The big four banks were mostly higher, with National Australia Bank adding 1.8%, while ANZ Banking Group and Westpac Banking Group rose 2.4% and 2%. Commonwealth Banking Group tacked 2.8%.

Looking ahead, European stock market futures pointed to a flat open.

The EURO STOXX 50 futures pointed to a loss of 0.1% at the open, France’s CAC 40 futures were little changed, London’s FTSE 100 futures indicated a gain of 0.1%, while Germany's DAX futures pointed to a flat open.

The U.S. was to release the weekly government report on initial jobless claims and a report on pending home sales later Thursday, while Germany was to produce data on unemployment and import prices