Stocks climbed around the world and commodities headed for a third day of gains as investors drew solace from reports showing a stabilization in China’s manufacturing activity. The yen and Treasuries slipped as haven demand ebbed.

Investors are welcoming signs of stabilization in China after concerns about a slowdown in the world’s second-largest economy helped trigger declines that wiped about $10 trillion from global stock values in the three months to Sept. 30. The prolonged contraction in the country’s factory indexes comes even after five interest-rate cuts since November and as the government eases restrictions on real-estate purchases and car sales. Japan’s quarterly Tankan surveys showed businesses are on edge amid faltering domestic growth, angst about China and uncertainty concerning when the Federal Reserve will increase U.S. borrowing costs.

“Global risk sentiment is swinging between optimism and pessimism on a near-daily basis as nervous market participants evaluate whether the volatility seen in late August is just a bad memory or will prove to be a harbinger of larger trouble down the track,”Sharon Zollner, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ Bank New Zealand Ltd., said in a client note. “Markets will likely continue to zig zag until we get a clear signal one way or another.”

China’s official manufacturing PMI rose from 49.7 in the previous quarter. While economists had predicted it would be unchanged, readings below 50 are a sign of contraction.

“Markets are not panicking right now because it hasn’t been an across-the-board slump in a continued way,” Vishnu Varathan, a Singapore-based economist at Mizuho Bank Ltd, said of the China PMI figures. “If anything, people see a bit of a silver lining in this data. It was the large manufacturers that lifted the so-called official PMI. The large enterprises showed a very encouraging turnaround in conditions."

Currencies

The yen was lower for a second day, trading at 120.09 per dollar, as the better-than-estimated China data combined with speculation that Bank of Japan GovernorHaruhiko Kuroda may need to add to its record stimulus program amid signs the recovery under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is stalling. The yen has weakened 9.3 percent since the BOJ boosted stimulus at the end of October 2014.

The euro weakened 0.3 percent to $1.1148. A final reading on European manufacturing activity is due, while Spain, France and the U.K. plan to sell bonds Thursday.

Commodities

The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose for a third day, climbing 0.4 percent in its longest streak of gains since Aug. 31.

West Texas Intermediate crude added 1.6 percent to $45.80 a barrel after see-sawing between gains and losses this week. Prices averaged $46.50 last quarter, the least since the first three months of 2009, as U.S. crude inventories expanded and Iraq, OPEC’s second-largest producer, increased output.

Copper on the London Metal Exchange advanced 1.1 percent, extending a 3.8 percent surge yesterday. The metal jumped Wednesday as an Anglo American Plc and Glencore Plc venture said it plans to reduce production at Chile’s second-biggest mine.

Nickel for three-month delivery fluctuated in London, after jumping 5.3 percent Wednesday. Last session’s advance trimmed nickel’s third-quarter loss to 13 percent. China is the world’s biggest consumer of industrial metals.

As well as the swag of manufacturing PMIs, updates on consumer prices in Indonesia and Thailand are due Thursday.