Chinese and Hong Kong stocks continued to rise after China’s central bank said it had set up a re-lending mechanism with an initial quota of 300 billion yuan, or about 39 billion euros. The purpose of the mechanism is to finance share buybacks.
“China’s central bank focuses on lowering funding costs to help companies and households take on more debt,” Fidelity International Asia Focus Economist Peiqian Liu reviews Bloomberg.
In mainland China, the CSI 300 was up 2.4 percent, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng was up 1.9 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei was up 0.2 percent, and in Korea the Kospi was down 0.6 percent.
The economic data published in the morning was also stronger than expected. In China, total production grew by 4.6 percent, while economists’ expectations were 4.5 percent in the third quarter. According to official figures, China’s economy grew by 4.7 percent in the previous half-year.
The MSCI AC Asia Pacific index, which describes the performance of Asian stocks, is on its way to its first daily gain since last week. In the background, there is at least a stronger result than the expectations of the Taiwanese chip manufacturer TSMC. The company’s shares opened up 6.3 percent.
Futures anticipate a decline in Europe and the United States. In the US, S&P 500 futures were down 0.06 percent, while the Euro Stoxx 50 was down 0.2 percent.
At 08:59, one euro was worth 1.08 dollars, 162.4 yen, 0.77 pounds and 11.4 Swedish kronor. The dollar was 149.8 yen and the pound was 1.3 dollars.