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Asian stocks jumped sharply and government bonds tumbled on Monday after Washington took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to limit the extensive damage of the U.S. financial crisis.
The action was prompted by worries over the mortgage lenders' shrinking capital, was the and is the latest in a series of emergency steps taken by the U.S. to quell a year-long crisis in credit market.
The market reaction across Asia was swift, with Japan's benchmark Nikkei seeing its biggest percentage gain in five months as the yen fell against major currencies after the biggest U.S. government bailout ever was seen encouraging investor risk-taking.
Investors who had been keeping cash-heavy portfolios, switched to battered stocks, particularly financials, with Australian shares rising over 4 percent.
The impact of the rescue package on U.S. coffers was yet uncertain, but the U.S. Treasury will take an equity stake in the companies and provide liquidity, possibly costing over 200 billion dollars.
Oil jumped more than 2 dollars to near 109 dollars a barrel, rebounding from a five-month low on worries Hurricane Ike would hit the Gulf of Mexico and on hopes the U.S. bailout would help stave off further economic downturn.
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