BANGKOK – World stock markets began to claw back some lost ground Wednesday, following a wave of selling sparked by fears that Greece might reject an austerity plan and default on its massive debts.

Oil bounced to near $93 a barrel, while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

Stocks have struggled since Monday, when Greece’s prime minister unexpectedly announced he would call a national vote on an unpopular European plan that entails painful tax increases and drastic welfare cuts for his debt-ridden nation.

But European shares shows signs of recuperation early in the day. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1 percent to 5,473.96. Germany’s DAX rose 1.6 percent to 5,928.31 and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.7 percent to 3,121.68.

Wall Street also appeared headed for gains, with Dow Jones industrial futures gaining 0.7 percent to 11,761 and S&P 500 futures 0.9 percent higher at 1,235.10.

Several key Asian indexes also joined in on the rebound, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shooting up 1.9 percent to 19,733.71 after a lower opening. Benchmarks in India, Singapore and Indonesia were also higher.

But Japan’s Nikkei 225 index tumbled 2.2 percent to 8,640.42, its lowest close in three weeks. Benchmarks in Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia and the Philippines also posted losses.

Papandreou’s unexpected call for a public vote on the aid package came just days before the leaders of the world’s largest industrial and developing nations gather for the G20 economic summit in Cannes, France on Thursday and Friday. The troubled eurozone will be the summit’s emergency topic.

A top European official warned that Athens could be left to go bankrupt if it went through with the vote and experts said the broader deal — which hopes to protect larger countries such as Italy from markets panic — could collapse.

Ultimately, Greece could leave the 17-nation euro currency union, causing financial havoc and pushing the global economy back into recession.

“A no vote could quickly start a chain reaction leading to Greece being forced to leave the Monetary Union. A resulting run on Greek banks could have serious spillover effects on Portugal and Ireland,” Citibank analysts said in a report.

That prospect could be enough to keep the referendum from happening — Papandreou’s government could collapse before the proposal goes through, having lost huge amounts of support from its own party.

Mainland Chinese shares advanced, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index reversing early losses to gain 1.4 percent to 2,504.11 — the Shanghai benchmark’s highest close in over a month. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index gained 1.8 percent to 1,060.17.

Comments by Premier Wen Jiabao that suggested China might ease its tight monetary policies were enough to overcome the gloom that prevailed in the morning, said Liu Kan, an analyst at Guoyuan Securities in Shanghai.

“That means more to the mainland Chinese markets than European debt crisis,” Liu said.

Nearly 50 companies hit the daily limit of 10 percent. China National Software & Service Co. jumped 10 percent due to news of tax relief for software companies. China Life Insurance Co. gained 2.5 percent while China Merchants Bank added 1.9 percent.

Japan’s powerhouse export sector fell sharply, a day after data showed that U.S. manufacturing grew more slowly in October, hampered by weak demand for exports. Toyota Motor Corp. tumbled 3.5 percent, Panasonic Corp. lost 3.8 percent and Sharp Corp. fell 4 percent.

Japanese utility Tokyo Electric Power Co. fell 1.3 percent after saying there may be signs of fresh nuclear fission in the No. 2 reactor at its disaster-damaged Fukushima Daiichi power plant.

Mazda Motor Corp. slid 5.4 percent after reporting it expects a loss of 19 billion yen ($244 million) for the fiscal year through March 2012, down from an earlier projection of a 1 billion yen ($12.8 million) profit.

Sony Corp. fell 3.6 percent after it reported a 27 billion yen ($346 million) loss for the latest quarter and downgraded its annual earnings forecast due to the strong yen and poor sales of flat panel TVs.

Hong Kong-listed shares of China Railway Construction Corp. soared 10.5 percent and China Railway Group Ltd. jumped 9 percent after news reports said the country’s Ministry of Railways was in line for a new injection of funds.

The Dow fell 2.5 percent to close at 11,657.96 on Tuesday. It was the biggest drop since Sept. 22. The S&P 500 lost 2.8 percent to 1,218.28. The Nasdaq composite dropped 2.9 percent to 2,606.96.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 70 cents at $92.89 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1 to settle at $92.19 in New York on Tuesday.

In currency trading, the euro rose to $1.3791 from $1.3715 late Tuesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 78.08 yen from 78.33 yen.

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AP researcher Fu Ting contributed from Shanghai.

BANGKOK – World stocks rose Monday as a measure of stability returned to markets after last week’s dizzying swings and data showed the economy of earthquake-battered Japan shrank less than expected.

Oil prices hovered above $85 a barrel. The dollar rose against the yen but lost ground against the euro.

European shares were higher in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.6 percent to 5,351.81. Germany’s DAX climbed 1 percent to 6,059.70 and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 0.7 percent at 3,236.28.

Wall Street was also headed higher, with Dow Jones industrial futures up 0.6 percent at 11,314. Broader S&P 500 futures rose 0.6 percent to 1,184.10.

Global markets fluctuated wildly last week as investors already concerned over Europe’s worsening debt crisis were further rattled by the downgrade of Washington’s credit rating and signs the U.S. might be headed toward recession.

According to Citibank Global Markets, emerging market equity funds saw the third-largest weekly outflow on record, with $7.7 billion redeemed. The largest redemption was $10.7 billion in January 2008.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index closed 1.4 percent higher at 9,086.41 after the government announced the economy had contracted at an annualized rate of 1.3 percent in the April-June quarter.

While that was the third straight quarter of contraction for the world’s third-largest economy, it was better than a 2.6 percent fall forecast in a Kyodo News agency survey of analysts.

Japan’s economy was thrown into a tailspin by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated much of the country’s industrial northeast. Entire towns were washed away. Infrastructure, utilities and factories vital to production were destroyed.

Video game maker Nintendo Co. soared 9.8 percent on hopes it would become a component of the Nikkei 225 index if the Tokyo Stock Exchange acquires the Osaka Securities Exchange.

Among other Asian indexes, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shot up 3.3 percent to 20,260.10 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 2.4 percent to 4,272.50. South Korea’s market was closed for a public holiday.

Mainland Chinese shares gained for a fifth trading day on expectations the government announce new measures to support growth, analysts said. The Shanghai Composite Index added 1.3 percent to 2,626.77 and the Shenzhen Composite Index rose 1.4 percent to 1,175.41.

“Investors are more confident after the last few days of gains following the upheavals in global markets, while at the same time expecting the release of fresh monetary measures,” said Cai Dagui, an analyst at Ping’an Securities, based in Shenzhen.

A rebound in retail sales in July pushed Wall Street higher Friday, the first time since early July that the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P 500 index rose for two consecutive days.

The U.S. Federal Reserve last week signaled that it would keep interest rates super-low for two more years because of expectations that unemployment will remain high and economic growth slow.

The Fed’s decision came after the government said the U.S. economy had barely expanded in the first six months of this year.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was up 22 cents to $85.60 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude fell 34 cents to settle at $85.38 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude was up 53 cents to $108.56 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The euro strengthened to $1.4304 from $1.4245 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 76.79 yen from 76.75 Japanese yen.

NEW YORK – Stock prices fluctuated Friday after investors found some upbeat news in the government’s assessment of the economy during the April-June quarter.

The Dow Jones industrial average, down almost 120 points in the first minutes of trading, recovered and was down 8 points at midday. The other major indexes also wiped out their losses and were slightly higher.

Still, some traders were cautious and opted for the safety of Treasury bonds instead of riskier stocks. That helped push interest rates lower.

The Commerce Department said the gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the economy, grew at an annual pace of 2.4 percent from April to June. That’s less than the 2.5 percent economists polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast.

At first the report confirmed investors’ belief that the recovery is weakening as unemployment remains high and government stimulus programs end. Consumers cut back on their spending because of job worries and companies spent less to rebuild inventories.

But analysts said that as investors read deeper into the report, it didn’t look as bad as they initially thought. They found some good news in consumers’ savings rate.

“The consumer actually decided to save more,” Jason Pride, director of investment strategy at Glenmeade, an investment management company. “Consumers have done more to repair their balance sheets than thought.”

Pride said that means that those extra savings will eventually be spent, giving the economy a lift. Consumer spending accounts for the bulk of economic activity.

Business spending on equipment and software jumped in the second quarter by the biggest amount in 13 years. That was encouraging, analysts said, because it means companies are eventually going to start adding jobs.

“Companies are spending and eventually it will turn into employment,” said Ron Weiner, president and CEO at RDM Financial Group. “Eventually they need to hire people to run the computers” they are buying, Weiner said.

Investors also got some mildly good news from two other reports. The University of Michigan/Reuters consumer sentiment index for July rose slightly more than expected to 67.8 from a preliminary reading of 66.5. Economists expected it to rise to 67.

And the Chicago Purchasing Managers Index, which measures manufacturing activity in the Midwest, rose unexpectedly to 62.3 this month from 59.1 in June. Economists were expecting a drop to 56.5. The report is seen as an indicator of how the Institute for Supply Management’s nationwide index is likely to come in when it’s released on Monday.

In midday trading, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 8.03, or 0.1 percent, to 10,459.13. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1.29, or 0.1 percent, to 1,100.24, while the Nasdaq composite index rose 0.27, or less than 0.1 percent, to 2,251.96.

The Dow entered the last day of July up 7.1 percent for the month. The market’s big gains have come on strong corporate earnings and profit forecasts that conflict with economic reports that point to a slowdown.

Rising stocks narrowly outpaced those that fell on the New York Stock Exchange where volume came to 360.8 million shares.

Even as some investors moved back into stocks, many stayed in safer Treasurys. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its prices, fell to 2.92 percent from 2.99 percent. Its yield is often used as a benchmark for interest rates on mortgages and other consumer loans.

Traders were also being cautious Friday because they’re waiting for a series of key reports next week that will give a first look at how the economy is doing in the current quarter. The Institute for Supply Management releases its reports on the manufacturing and services sectors during July and the Labor Department issues its report on employment for this month.

Economists predict the two ISM reports will show manufacturing and the services industry expanded in July but at a slower pace than in June.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate likely inched higher to 9.6 percent in July from 9.5 percent in June as the government laid off more temporary census workers. Private employers likely added 90,000 jobs during the month, slightly better than in June.

Overseas markets mostly fell Friday after reports that Spain’s credit rating is likely to be cut by Moody’s Investors Service. The potential downgrade comes as the country’s unemployment rate jumped to a 13-year high of 20.09 percent and the government continues to grapple with rising debt problems.

Spain’s IBEX 35 fell 1.2 percent. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 1.1 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.2 percent, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.2 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.6 percent.