Chinese shares bounce on stimulus hopes

HONG KONG - Chinese shares staged a sharp rebound Thursday on investor hopes for more economic stimulus a day after gloomy first-quarter growth, while other world stock benchmarks were mixed.

European stocks slipped in early trading, with Germany's DAX falling 0.7 percent to 12,145.96 and France's CAC 40 dipping 0.2 percent to 5,243.35. Britain's FTSE 100 edged 0.1 percent lower to 7,090.42. U.S. stocks were poised to open lower, with S&P 500 futures down 0.4 percent and Dow futures down 0.3 percent.

The country's main stock market rebounded from losses the previous day, when the world's second-biggest economy posted its worst quarterly growth in six years. The 7 percent expansion in the January-March period was the weakest since the global financial crisis. Beijing has cut interest rates twice and rolled out targeted stimulus measures following signs that the downturn has been sharper than expected and investors are likely expecting more such boosting measures to come.

"Having seen two cuts to benchmark and market interest rates already in the past six months, as well as tweaks to the reserve requirement ratios and changes to policy around investment property, yesterday's numbers would normally suggest further stimulus as the tweaks have not been enough to stop the decline," Evan Lucas, market strategist at IG Markets in Melbourne, wrote in a commentary.

Investors welcomed news that the country's unemployment rate fell to 6.1 percent in March from 6.3 percent the month before. The result surprised economists, who had expected the number to hold steady, though it also clouded the outlook on whether Australia's central bank would cut interest rates again in May.

The Shanghai composite index surged 2.7 percent to end at 4,194.82, a day after it lost as much as 1.2 percent following the release of the economic data. Other Asian indexes had smaller gains, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index up 0.1 percent to 19,885.77 and South Korea's Kospi rising 1 percent to 2,139.00. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.4 percent to 27,739.71 while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.7 percent to 5,947.50.

U.S. benchmark crude eased oil slipped 58 cents to $55.81 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $3.10 to settle at $56.39, hitting its highest price this year, on Wednesday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils used by many U.S. refineries, fell 41 cents to $62.91 in London.

The dollar strengthened to 119.22 yen from 119.15 in late trading Wednesday. The euro slipped to $1.0646 from $1.0677.