Japanese shares have rebounded, giving investors pause from a global sell-off that has hammered markets for a month.
Tokyo's main Nikkei 225 index added 240 points, or 1.7%, to 14,458.82 on Wednesday, clawing back some of the previous session's 4.1% tumble.
The worry for investors is that any bounce in share prices may only be short-lived amid concerns about higher interest rates and faster inflation.
A US inflation report due later will be key to market direction, analysts said.
Looking again
The fear among investors is that central banks will over-tighten interest rates - slowing economic growth - in order to control accelerating inflation.
As a result, corporate earnings forecasts may be too high and require investors to re-evaluate their share-price targets.
Especially as many stock markets had been touching multi-year highs in the weeks before the sell-off, analysts said.
"The decline in stocks is just part of an adjustment as a reaction to a too recent rise in stock prices," said Yoku Ihara, an analyst at Retela Crea Securities.
The irony is that the recent declines have made equities attractive once again.
"Japanese share prices have tumbled to a level at which it would be very reasonable to buy," said Hideyuki Suzuki, a strategist at SBI Securities.
Wider problem
The volatility in stocks has spread to other markets with investors questioning the outlook for global economic growth.
Commodities have also fallen, with gold and copper leading the way, while crude oil has declined for three sessions in a row.
Copper dropped almost 2% in after-hours trading in London on Tuesday, pushing its decline to 17% over the past five sessions.
Gold, meanwhile, plunged 7% on Tuesday, its biggest one-day fall for 23 years. New York light crude oil dipped 0.5% to $68.22 in extended electronic trading.
The US dollar dipped against the yen and euro, despite the expectation that interest rates will rise.
Investors said they were worried that economic growth would stall, weakening the currency.
"It may take a while before the market can fully regain confidence," said Shuji Sugata of Mitsubishi Corporation Futures and Securities.
(BBC)
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