Asian stocks up on recovery hopes

European markets echoed rises in Asia

Asian shares rose on Monday as states intervened to boost their economies.

But the rises in Europe were less dramatic than in Asia, with the FTSE 100 up 1.5%, Germany's Dax up 0.8% and the Cac 40 in Paris up 1.2%.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average flipped between positive and negative territory before eventually closing barely changed.

The MSCI index in the Asia-Pacific region had risen 5.1% but traders were cautious, saying uncertainty remained.

"There is still widespread scepticism over the steps taken to unfreeze the credit markets, as it will be a while before things start looking up on a sustained basis," brokerage India Infoline said, following a change in short-term interest rates in India.

India's Sensex rose some 440 points or 4.6%.

Banks were among the main climbers in Asia and Europe.

Societe Generale added 2.5% after seeing profits fall more than 80%, but said it was better positioned for the downturn ahead. Later shares fell back and were 0.8% higher.

Deutsche Bank was also higher, adding 3%.

China's ICBC was up nearly 10%, Indian lender ICICI added 8% and Australia's investment bank Macquarie rose 12.4%.

Confidence

South Korea announced an 14-trillion-won economic stimulus package on Monday that helped send shares in Seoul 1.4% higher.

Miles Remington, head of Asian sales trading at BNP Paribas Securities in Hong Kong, said: "I don't think it's a massive change in direction.

"More a case of a little more confidence going forward in massively oversold stocks and ... global organized attempts to deal with the issues," he said.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 3% on hopes that lending limits would been lifted, helping small firms.

Central banks in the US, Japan, China, as well as India, have all cut borrowing costs to boost their economies in the last week.

There are growing expectations that the Bank of England and the European Central Bank will follow suit this week.