Stocks end worst quarter in 4 years on positive note

In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 1.47 percent to 9,545.90 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 1.77 percent to 4,401.30.

Stocks were on track to end their most bruising quarter in four years with gains on Wednesday, led by shares that have been most exposed to global economic slowdown and commodity sector rout that have rattled investors in recent days.

Japan’s Nikkei brushed aside an unexpected drop in the country’s industrial output to close up 2.7 per cent, paring losses for the quarter to 14.1 per cent, its deepest since 2010. Despite the poor data, Shanghai staged a recovery after a morning sell-off, ending 0.27 percent higher on Monday.

Glencore Plc wiped out Monday’s record slump as the shares rose for a third day alongside higher metals prices. Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo rose 1.32 and Sydney added 1.42 percent. Markets in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea were closed for holidays.

Tony Hayward, the company’s chairman, bought 100,000 shares priced at 91 pence each, according to a filing released Wednesday. Analysts at Citigroup and Bernstein said the sell-off in Glencore had been overdone and that there was value in the business.

China’s slowing demand for commodities and Glencore’s debt pile has spooked investors and forced Chief Executive Officer Ivan Glasenberg to announce a debt-cutting plan including asset sales, halting its dividend and a $2.5 billion share sale completed this month. On the upside in London, shares in brewer SABMiller jumped 3.21 percent to 3,703 pence on reports that Belgian-Brazilian giant AB InBev was set to launch a formal takeover bid.

Meanwhile, London is getting crushed due to a route for mining companies, which favour London for listing. Shell said in a statement that its Burger J well in the Chukchi Sea, off the northwest coast of Alaska, had failed to find sufficient amounts of oil and gas.

Sharp declines for Brent Crude and copper (as the metal barely kept its head above the 6 year lows seen in August) had serious ramifications for the oil and mining sectors, with the latter having an astonishingly bad day.