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Asia claws back from stock rout
 The Nikkei made up some ground Wednesday after plunging more than 4 percent the previous day. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Asian share markets clawed their way back Wednesday from the previous day's global stock rout as investors foraged for value. Taiwan and South Korea were two of Asia's best performers, rising 2 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively. But the gains still left markets well adrift of the week's starting point as fears of a U.S. rate rise and economic slowdown continued to hang over the region. After Wall Street struggled on Tuesday, Asian markets were poised for further falls as trading began Wednesday. Initially, prices fell into the red, with Japan's Nikkei opening almost 1 percent lower. But investor confidence gradually returned during the day as buyers sought out bargains, pushing the Nikkei to finish with a gain of 0.64 percent. That allowed it to pick up a little of the ground lost Tuesday when $145 billion in value was wiped from stocks and the Nikkei plunged 4.14 percent --its biggest one-day percentage fall in two years. The broader Topix finished 0.54 percent ahead at 1466.14. Typical of the turnaround in Japan was giant auto maker Toyota Motor, which opened in the red before recovering to finish with a gain of 1.08 percent. In the key consumer electronics area, Canon and Matsushita finished higher. But not all exporters fared as well, with Sony ending 0.8 percent in the red. Big banks Mizuho, Mitsubishi UFJ and SMFG also were down. Nippon Oil dropped 2.7 percent and Inpex lost 1.3 percent as oil prices eased back to the $68 a barrel mark. South Korea aheadIn South Korea, where the Kospi finished 1.48 percent ahead at 1221.73, market heavyweight and top exporter Samsung Electronics put on 0.73 percent. Taiwan's Taiex rose 2.08 percent to finish at 6469.01 as tech-related stocks regathered strength. Big chip foundry TSMC jumped 3.4 percent. Australia spent much of the day in the red, before the S&P/ASX200 managed to finish with a gain of 0.25 percent to 4850.8 and ward off the official onset of a bear market. Big miners BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, which were hard-hit on Tuesday, rose 1.5 percent and 3 percent respectively. But leading bank NAB was down slightly, as was top phone company Telstra. Hong Kong and Singapore are firmer heading toward the close, while India's BSE Sensex opened with a gain of about 3 percent after Tuesday's hefty fall. In a commentary Wednesday, Masuhisa Kobayashi of Barclays Capital said the possibility of a rate rise in Japan next month had now weakened, but a rate rise by the Bank of Japan in September was still expected. Tuesday's losses in Asia spilled over into Wall Street where the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 0.8 percent to finish at 10,706.14. After more than a month of steady declines, it has now lost all of its gains for the year. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index fell for the eighth straight day, dropping 0.9 percent to 2,072.47 (Full story). Attention is on the U.S. Federal Reserve meeting on June 28-29, when rates may be raised for the 17th straight time despite signs of a slowdown. Risky assets dumpedIn other markets, gold, metals and oil extended losses on Wednesday as investors dumped higher-risk assets, while the dollar set a seven-week high on persistent talk of higher U.S. interest rates. Spot gold plunged to $561 an ounce to notch up a 22 percent drop in the past month. Tuesday's drop in gold prices was its sharpest decline in 15 years, Reuters reported. "The market continues to see movements linked to risk aversion," Kota Kimura, forex manager at Shinkin Central Bank, told Reuters. "Unless some fresh and strong incentives come out, money is likely to keep flowing back to dollar assets." In Tokyo trading late Wednesday, the dollar was at 114.97 yen. Traders said the dollar's next moves would depend on the U.S. consumer price index, due at 1230 GMT. Economists polled by Reuters expect the index to rise 0.4 percent in May from a month earlier. The index was up 0.6 percent in April. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and other Fed officials have repeatedly warned of growing inflationary pressures in the U.S. economy and have pledged to keep inflation under control, Reuters reported. Oil lowerU.S. crude oil was trading as low as $68.22 a barrel early in Asia. Spot gold was quoted at $560.25 an ounce (Full story). U.S. producer prices and retail sales data were released Tuesday. Producer prices rose 0.2 percent in May, down from April's 0.9 percent and below the 0.4 percent expected by economists in a Reuters poll. (Full story). But the core figure, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, rose a sharper-than-forecast 0.3 percent. "The core PPI number is clearly above what the estimates were and that reinforces the already standing belief that the Fed is most likely to raise rates again at the end of the month unless there is a dramatic surprise from the CPI tomorrow morning," Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles. Other data showed U.S. retail sales rose a modest 0.1 percent in May, as expected, but below the 0.5 percent rise in April. 
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