Bourses edge up as EM turmoil calms Tuesday 08:00 GMT. Equity benchmarks and currencies are striving to stabilise after several turbulent sessions in which the evaporation of risk appetite delivered a pounding to emerging market assets and swiftly forced global stocks to five-week lows. Monetary policy is in focus as central banks jostle ahead of another expected reduction in Federal Reserve stimulus. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 is opening up 0.4 per cent after its Asia-Pacific peer dipped 0.3 per cent. The latter's decline partly reflected a 1.3 per cent drop for the Australian market which was playing catch-up after a public holiday. Otherwise the region was much calmer than of late, with Tokyo off just 0.2 per cent, Seoul adding 0.3 per cent and greater China bourses mildly firmer. US index futures suggest the S&P 500 will shrug off poorly-received results from Apple and gain 8 points to 1,789. Wall Street's benchmark has lost 3.4 per cent in just the past three trading days - pretty much matching the decline for the FTSE All-Word index - to hit its lowest closing level since December 17. Analysts and investors are still debating the cause of the stock market sell-off. Was it worries about China's economic growth and financial system; fears that emerging market wobbles would rupture global economic sentiment; the unenthusiastic reaction to the corporate earnings season; or fears of rising interest rates and tighter liquidity now the Federal Reserve has started to taper its quantitative easing programme? Perhaps it was all those factors, which together provided a handy excuse to pare bullish positions in a market, in the S&P 500"s case, which had rallied by 30 per cent in 2013 to a record high. The results from Apple overnight suggest the earnings issue may linger, but in terms of the EM anxiety it seems the tension is dissipating somewhat. The FTSE Emerging Market equity index, which lost 4.5 per cent over three sessions to hit a four-month low on Monday, is up 0.3 per cent and recently battered currencies such as the South African rand, Mexican peso and Turkish lira are firmer. "This doesn't mean that we are out of the woods, of course, however the risk that the weakness seen in global assets spirals into a short-term asset meltdown has eased somewhat," wrote Sacha Tihanyi, Asia currency strategist at Scotia Bank, in a note to clients. However, it is likely traders will be reluctant to take bold positions in the lira ahead of the Turkish central bank later in the day delivering the outcome of its emergency meeting. Before news of the meeting was released on Monday the lira had fallen to a record low of TL2.3900 versus the US dollar, but subsequently rallied to currently trade at TL2.2760 as a Reuters poll shows analysts expected Ankara to hike interest rates by 225 basis points to 10 per cent to support its currency. Another developing country currency benefiting from tighter monetary policy is the Indian rupee, which is up 0.3 per cent after the central bank unexpectedly raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 8 per cent in order to tackle inflation. Indian bonds and equities were not enamoured of the move, the Sensex index slipping 0.1 per cent. Despite the better mood, global trading may be curtailed by some investors awaiting Wednesday's decision from the Federal Reserve on whether to further reduce its $75bn-a-month bond buying stimulus programme. The dollar index is slipping 0.1 per cent as Treasury yields are little changed at 2.76 per cent. Gold, which can often be volatile in the face of Fed decisions, is up $2 to $1,258 an ounce. Action among the major currency crosses points to greater risk appetite than seen of late. The Japanese yen is slipping 0.1 per cent to Y102.66 versus the buck, while the growth-focused Aussie dollar is adding 0.4 per cent to US$0.8770, lifted by a business confidence survey that rose to its highest reading for 2.5 years. Sentiment is also being helped by some better macroeconomic data out of Asia. Taiwan's fourth-quarter GDP came in stronger-than-expected but the stock market could not react because it was closed for a holiday. In commodities, the market's slightly more optimistic tone is helping copper gain 0.1 per cent to $7,167 a tonne and Brent crude is up 28 cents to $107.02 a barrel. Additional reporting by Patrick McGee and Josh Noble in Hong Kong