HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Chinese stocks rebounded from their morning lows on Wednesday, shrugging off Tuesday’s surprise quarter-point rate hike by Beijing and helping other regional markets reverse or pare their losses.

And while economists see more rate hikes coming in the next few months, equity market analysts are viewing the correction as a buying opportunity on hopes Chinese economic growth will remain intact.

“We’re telling investors to buy into weakness,” said Todd Martin, Asia equity strategist at Société Générale. “The central bank has access to a lot more information than the general market does, and the fact that the [People’s Bank of China] deems it necessary to start tightening tells us that there is a lot of momentum left in the [Chinese] economy.”

The Shanghai Composite Index(CN:SHCOMP 3,039, +37.52, +1.25%), which dropped as much as 2% earlier in the day, rebounded to end the morning session 0.7% higher at 3,021.42. The Shenzhen Composite index also charted a similar course to rise 1.2% by the midday break.

The markets had opened sharply lower after the People’s Bank of China raised both the one-year lending and deposit rates by a quarter-point, to 5.56% and 2.5%, respectively. The rate hike had led to a sharp fall on Wall Street, sparked a rebound in the U.S. dollar and hurt commodity prices overnight on worries it might lead to a slowdown in the global economy.

Several economists, including those at Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Standard Chartered, said the rate increase likely marked the beginning of a tightening cycle in China.

But analysts expect the impact on equity markets to be limited.