Asian markets mostly higher; US stocks at record highs
Tokyo and Hong Kong settled lower, while Seoul and Shanghai ended higher; European markets were trading lower; Wall St logged its 6th straight winning week with S&P-500 and Dow Jones closing at all-time highs on Fri
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Bangkok: Asian shares have opened mostly higher after US stocks rose to records to close out their latest winning week. US futures and oil prices also climbed.Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier, falling 0.6 per cent to 20,869.39, but the Shanghai Composite gained 0.8 per cent to 3,288.32. The A-share index of the smaller market in Shenzhen picked up 2.2 per cent.
The gains in mainland Chinese markets followed cuts in the one-year and five-year Loan Prime Rates, which are reference rates for lending. Lower rates can help reduce pressure on borrowers, particulary property developers that have suffered following a crackdown on excessive borrowing several years ago. Given that the main constrain is weak demand, the “heavy lifting” will have to come from government spending, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report. China’s Finance Ministry has pledged to ramp up such outlays in coming months, “However, we are still sceptical that fiscal easing will be large enough to deliver anything more than a modest and short-lived pick-up in activity.”
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.3 per cent at 39.078.33, while the Kospi in Seoul surged 0.8 per cent to 2,614.75. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.7 per cent to 8,340.40. Oil prices edged higher after tumbling last week as worries receded that Israel will attack Iranian oil facilities as part of its retaliation for Iran’s missile attack early this month. Iran is a major producer of crude, and a strike could upend its exports to China and elsewhere. Concerns about the strength of demand from China have also hit oil prices. The dollar fell to 149.23 Japanese yen from 149.57 yen late Friday. The yen has weakened recently on expectations that the rate of interest rate hikes by the Bank of Japan may be slower than earlier thought. The euro slipped to $1.0865 from $1.0867.
