Marketmind: Asia stocks soar despite big week for risk
A look at the day ahead in European and global markets from Kevin Buckland
Neither Wall Street's wobble nor the liquidation of China Evergrande (HK:3333), the poster child of the property meltdown, stopped Asian markets from rallying to start the new week, with Hong Kong taking the lead.
Optimism that Beijing's stimulus promises are finally becoming action sent the Hang Seng up more than 1%, and markets from Tokyo to Seoul that were already rising were pulled higher in its wake.
Beijing's latest move to stabilise markets after their recent slump came on Sunday, with the securities regulator saying it will fully suspend the lending of restricted shares. That punctuated a week that also saw a hefty bank reserve ratio cut and a market-moving media report of a planned 2 trillion yuan ($278.45 billion) stocks stabilisation fund.
Of course, the Hang Seng has room to rise considering this time last week it was wallowing at a 15-month trough. And mainland Chinese blue chips were much more sanguine in their response, holding near three-week highs after last week's slide to five-year lows.
What it means for European equities is unclear though, considering too that U.S. stock futures are pointing slightly lower after the S&P 500 already slipped on Friday to snap a five-day streak of setting fresh all-time closing highs.
Caution is certainly warranted in a week brimming with big risk events. In the U.S. alone, the Federal Reserve decides policy on Wednesday, the influential monthly jobs report is due Friday, and the week is littered with mega-cap earnings from the likes of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), which between them account for
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