'Relief rally' closes jumpy week on Asian bourses

Tokyo

WHILE not exactly marking the end of "a crisis that never was", Friday closed a week in which stock and currency markets abandoned earlier doomsday scenarios that were prompted mainly by China's stockmarket plunge in favour of what some analysts called a "relief rally".

Stocks rose broadly throughout the Asian region and beyond as the Shanghai market at the centre of the storm regained some ground and as favourable US data raised hopes that the world's leading economy could provide momentum even as the second largest - China - slows down.