- Asian equities trade mixed except for China’s heavy gains.
- White House takes another U-turn while rekindling hopes of a large stimulus.
- China returns from Golden Week holidays with upbeat Caixin Services PMI, joins WHO’s COVID-19 vaccine program.
- RBI left monetary policy unchanged, RBA’s FSR noted fears of business failures.
Asian shares exchange mild gains with smaller losses, if ignored China’s leap, while heading into Friday’s European session. Increasing odds of a bigger stimulus package from the US than initially suggested by American President Donald Trump fill bright colors into the main theme. Also favoring the market bulls is the return of the Chinese traders from over one-week-long holidays and upbeat data from Beijing and Tokyo.
As a result, MSCI’s index of Asia-Pacific shares, ex-Japan, rises 0.37% whereas Japan’s Nikkei 225 drops 0.45% by the time of the press. Australia’s ASX 200 pays a little heed to the RBA’s Financial Stability Review (FSR), currently gaining 0.33% to 6,121, while New Zealand’s NZX 50 follows the suit amid an absence of any major data.
The leader, Chinese equities, gain on an average 2.0% as their comeback cheers hopes of more money from the west as well as Beijing’s ability to join the World Health Organization’s (WHO) coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine program again all odds. Further, a big beat of China’s Caixin Services PMI for September, up from 50.7 forecast and 54 prior to 54.8, also empowered the bulls.
On the other hand, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and Indonesia’s IDX Composite struggle with losses below 0.10% whereas South Korea’s KOSPI adds over 0.20% as we write. Further, India’s BSE Sensex gains 0.30% as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) matched wide market forecasts of leaving the benchmark repo rate unrevised at 4% and reverse repo rate at 3.35%.
Elsewhere, S&P 500 Futures add over half a percent whereas the US 10-year Treasury yields seesaw around 0.77% by the time of writing.
Looking forward, global market players await further updates on the US stimulus whereas COVID-19 headlines and Trump’s health recovery may also offer short-term direction.
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