By HEATHER TIMMONS
NEW DELHI, March 6 — The five-day slide in Asian stock markets halted today, as investors took advantage of low prices and started buying again, sparking relief in the region.

Equity markets in Asia started the morning strong and were still showing 1 to 2 percent gains by their close, boosting early trading in Europe. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed up 2.1 percent at 19,058.56, more than halving Monday’s losses.

Japan’s Nikkei gained 1.22 percent to 16,844.50. India’s Sensex was the biggest gainer of the region’s main indices, and traded up as much as 2.78 percent in the afternoon before closing at 12,760.10. In London, the FTSE 100 index was up by nearly 1 percent in late morning trading at 6,111.80. The Frankfurt and Paris stock markets were also higher.

The upturn allayed fears that panicked overseas investors might flee riskier Asian markets over the long term, and gave credence to the theory held by many economists that recent market drops were just corrections, and not the start of a longer decline.

The underlying economies of most countries in Asia, and in fact of most important world markets, are sound, many economists believe, and they say that growth will continue.

Still, strategists reiterated today that Asian markets over the next few weeks could still be a roller coaster.

“There is no fundamental reason pointing to a sustained meltdown, but volatility will remain with us for a while” as investors remain nervous, said Yipang Huang, head of economic and market analysis for Citigroup Global Markets Asia.

Various economic statistics due out in coming days could trigger other drops, he said. “The sentiment is very unstable,” he added.

Strong performers on Monday included Sony, which gained more than 4 percent, Japan’s Kobe Steel, which gained more than 7 percent, and Australian miner BHP Billiton, up 2.73 percent. Commodities including oil were hard hit on Monday, but oil stabilized in today’s trading in Asia.

The dollar rebounded against the yen after hitting three-month lows on Monday, a sign that investors were no longer unwinding the popular “carry trade” that uses low interest yen loans to invest in riskier Asian markets.

The yen hit 116.47 against the dollar, versus 115.53 on Monday.

Analysts increasingly blame the severity of the latest slide in Asia’s markets on the activity of hedge funds and the relatively risky nature of the trades that many hedge funds make.

Hedge funds have been active participants in the carry trade, borrowing yen in Japan, where interest rates are still less than 1 percent, to buy stocks and bonds in emerging markets where the rates of return have been in double digits.

Many of these same funds, analysts say, are also likely to have invested in the U.S. market for sub-prime mortgage debt, meaning losses there can put pressure on them to reduce their exposure to emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere.

But selling securities bought with borrowed yen comes with its own set of problems that can hasten market declines.

During the recent market falls, carry traders who sold emerging market positions tended to pay off their yen-denominated debts, helping to push the yen higher. This trend then prompted even more furious selling by carry traders, as the rising yen raised the cost of their loans and they rushed to cut their losses as their holdings in emerging markets fell.

The five-day Asian stock slide was begun last Tuesday, when China’s main index dropped about 9 percent, unnerving investors in the region and dragging down European and American markets as well.

Investors in European and United States markets may need to brace themselves for more of the same, some analysts think. The drop “is the first time that China has had a material impact on the financial markets outside Asia,” Citigroup analysts said in a report, “and it probably will not be the last time.”

Wayne Arnold contributed reporting from Singapore.