Stock markets in Asia began to regain some of their lost ground in today’s trading after five days of losses and some severe dents inflicted on people’s saving and investment plans.

The Nikkei – Japan’s main index – which had lost 8% of its total value in the previous five sessions, climbed 1.2%, while the Bombay stock exchange put on more than 2%, to the relief of dealers and investors.

Monday’s trading on the US Dow Jones index was positive for most of the day as traders remembered that corporate earnings are still strong, despite background worries on the levels of US mortgage defaults and interest rates.

In London, the FTSE 100 fell below the psychologically important 6000 level for the first time since October last year, but some viewed this as a blip and not a significant factor for people’s saving and investment plans in the long term.

“Corporate earnings are strong and the economy is benign in almost every way except a few concerns about interest rates,” said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.

European and Asian markets have seen heavy falls in recent days as investors dumped stocks they saw as superfluous to their saving and investment plans.

The current situation began last week when the Chinese market experienced its biggest fall for more than 10 years.