By Steffen Gosenheimer
DOW JONES–The stock markets in East Asia are heading up on Tuesday. While the hope of economic stimulus from the government continues to fuel buying sentiment in China, there is a strong countermovement in Seoul to the losses from the previous day, which occurred in response to the political crisis in South Korea. The Shanghai Composite rose by 1.3 percent, the HSI in Hong Kong followed the rally the previous day with an increase of 0.7 percent. Unlike Hong Kong, trading had already ended in Shanghai on Monday as the Politburo hinted at more aggressive measures to cushion China’s economic slowdown, including a promise to stabilize the property market.
China is almost certainly preparing further aid for the economy, and ideally there would also be more clarity about the details of the support programs, says Harry Murphy Cruise, economist at Moody’s Analytics. Much of the stimulus is likely to follow China’s usual program, which focuses on financing construction and infrastructure, supporting the real estate market and industrial policy measures for the manufacturing sector. “What I would like to see is more support for households,” said the economist.
The Politburo’s new focus on stabilizing the stock market underscores the growing importance of the capital market and likely signals that potential market stabilization funds are in the pipeline, economists at HSBC say. The announcement sent a clear signal that further stimulus measures were on the way – a timely promise as external uncertainties are likely to increase.
The need for further stimulus is underlined by economic data from today. Both Chinese exports and imports fell short of expectations in November, although exports at least were still 6.7 percent higher than in the previous year.
In Seoul, where the Kospi rose 2.3 percent, participants spoke of bargain shopping after recent losses due to political instability in the country. The stimulus measures signaled by China are also contributing to the recovery.
The Nikkei index in Tokyo gained 0.5 percent to 39,366 points. Here too, participants point to the stimulus signals from China as a mood booster. The yen, which was weaker at the same time the previous day, also had a supportive effect.
In Sydney (-0.3%), the market, as is often the case, follows the lead of the US stock exchanges, where the indices had a lighter trend. There was no surprise from the Australian central bank, which confirmed the key interest rate at 4.35 percent in view of stubborn inflation. But according to Westpac’s Richard Franulovich, central bankers adopted an “increasingly dovish” tone in the accompanying statement. Among other things, the wording that nothing is being ruled out regarding the future direction of interest rates is missing. The Australian dollar is falling slightly against the US dollar.
Index (stock market) last +/- % % YTD end
S&P/ASX 200 (Sydney) 8,399.10 -0.3% +10.7% 06:00
Nikkei-225 (Tokyo) 39,365.92 +0.5% +16.8% 07:00
Kospi (Seoul) 2,413.80 +2.3% -9.1% 07:00
Shanghai Comp. 3,448.42 +1.3% +15.9% 08:00
Hang-Seng (Hongk.) 20,558.80 +0.7% +16.5% 09:00
Straits-Times (Sing.) 3,817.75 +0.6% +17.2% 10:00
KLCI (Malaysia) 1,609.40 -0.1% +10.9% 10:00
FOREX last +/- % 00:00 Mon, 9:07 % YTD
EUR/USD 1.0556 +0.0% 1.0555 1.0558 -4.4%
EUR/JPY 159.69 +0.0% 159.64 158.76 +2.6%
EUR/GBP 0.8281 +0.0% 0.8278 0.8275 -4.5%
GBP/USD 1.2747 -0.0% 1.2750 1.2759 +0.1%
USD/JPY 151.29 +0.0% 151.25 150.37 +7.4%
USD/KRW 1,427.40 -0.1% 1,429.09 1,433.96 +10.0%
USD/CNY 7.1795 -0.1% 7.1858 7.1966 +1.1%
USD/CNH 7.2559 -0.2% 7.2675 7.2816 +2.0%
USD/HKD 7.7736 -0.0% 7.7744 7.7781 -0.5%
AUD/USD 0.6391 -0.8% 0.6442 0.6423 -6.1%
NZD/USD 0.5828 -0.6% 0.5865 0.5839 -7.8%
Bitcoin
BTC/USD 96,630.30 -0.5% 97,114.90 99,423.70 +121.9%
ROHOEL most recently VT-Settlem. +/-% +/- USD% YTD
WTI/Nymex 67.95 68.37 -0.6% -0.42 -2.9%
Brent/ICE 71.79 72.14 -0.5% -0.35 -2.9%
METALS last day previous +/- % +/- USD % YTD
Gold (spot) 2,668.83 2,663.02 +0.2% +5.81 +29.4%
Silver (spot) 31.96 31.83 +0.4% +0.12 +34.4%
Platinum (spot) 937.50 947.00 -1.0% -9.50 -5.5%
Copper future 4.20 4.22 -0.6% -0.02 +6.3%
YTD based on the closing price of the previous day
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 10, 2024 00:41 ET (05:41 GMT)