U.S. stocks recover a bit, others sag

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday but equity markets across Europe and Asia were still swooning a day after Wall Street's blue chips suffered their biggest daily point loss since the September 11, 2001 attacks.

U.S. investors appeared to be taking advantage of cheap equity prices, helping to push all three major indexes higher. But trading remained fairly volatile after Tuesday's equity-led sell-off. The Dow Jones industrial has traded in a range exceeding 160 points over the day..

The equity market's rebound hit its stride after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress there didn't appear to be a single trigger for the global stock slump on Tuesday. Bernanke also said he expects moderate U.S. economic growth to continue.

Those remarks weighed on U.S. Treasury debt prices, already lower on the day as investors took a breather after bidding bonds up to their biggest daily gains in two years on Tuesday.

"I think the majority of people viewed yesterday's move as not surprising but a little overdone, and some of the comments from the Fed chairman are certainly helping to restore confidence in the markets today," said Michael James, senior trader at regional investment bank Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.

Lou Brien, strategist with DRW Trading Group in Chicago, said, "you are seeing some of the safe-haven trade being taken out of the long end of the Treasury market."

The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI was up 55.68 points, or 0.46 percent, at 12,271.92. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX was up 8.45 points, or 0.60 percent, at 1,407.49. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC was up 9.25 points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,417.11.

Benchmark U.S. 10 year Treasury notes were down 14/32 in price to yield 4.57 percent.

China's main Shanghai stock index .SSEC, whose 9 percent dive on Tuesday on regulatory concerns was cited by some as sparking the global selloff, bounced back almost 4 percent, but it stood alone among Asian markets.

Currency markets also steadied after one of the most volatile sessions in years, with the yen trading modestly lower against the dollar.

The previous session the Japanese currency had staged a lightning rally to 10-week highs versus the dollar when investors unwound yield-dependent yen carry trades in a bid to avert risk.

The dollar was up 0.4 percent to 118.40 yen after falling below 118 a day ago. Bernanke's remarks also helped it shake off data showing a decline in January new home sales, sending the euro down to $1.3220 compared with $1.3240 late Tuesday.

But a report on Wednesday showing the U.S. economy expanded at a weaker-than-expected 2.2 percent rate in the final three months of last year may keep investors wary of the dollar.

"The truth is that weakening in the currency will probably continue. Good data is clearly becoming more sparse and today's reports, if anything, just reinforce the view the Fed is done tightening," said Mark Meadows, currency strategist at Tempus Consulting in Washington D.C.

U.S. crude oil also fell amid anxiety about growth in the world's biggest oil consumer, slipping 83 cents, or 1.35 percent, to $60.63 per barrel.

Gold for April delivery on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange was down $17.40, or 2.6 percent, at $669.80 an ounce.

ASIAN, EUROPEAN EQUITIES STILL HURTING

European stocks fell for a second straight day, with oil majors and mining shares among the top decliners.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of top European shares unofficially closed down 1.36 percent at 1,485.58 points, its lowest close since January 10, although it was above an intraday low of 1,473.66.

The two-day sell-off around the world saw the MSCI world stock market .MSCIWD index -- which had risen more than 4 percent this year as recently as Monday -- lose all its gains for the year.

Tuesday's equities sell off also catapulted a key measure of equity market volatility .VIX -- known as the "fear index" and a closely-watched gauge of market risk aversion -- more than 64 percent higher. With nerves more settled by Wednesday, however, the VIX was more subdued, dropping by nearly 20 percent in midday trading.

Emerging stock markets continued to weaken. After falling 3.07 percent on Tuesday, the MSCI emerging markets stock index .MSCIEF lost 1.79 percent to hit its lowest since January 19. It hit a record high as recently as February 22.

Earlier, Asian stock indexes mirrored the decline in the U.S., with Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index .HSI down 2.1 percent and the H-share index .HSCE of Chinese shares listed in Hong Kong off 3 percent, well above the lows.

Japan's Nikkei average .N225 lost 2.9 percent, Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO fell 2.7 percent and Seoul's KOSPI shed 2.6 percent.

(Additional reporting by Dan Burns, Emily Chasan, David McMahon, Lucia Mutikani and Robert Gibbons in New York and Sitaraman Shankar, Richard Barley and Mike Dolan in London)