Stock market today: Asian markets are mostly higher after another winning close on Wall Street
Asian shares are mostly higher after U.S. stocks rose to records to close out their latest winning week
BANGKOK — Asian shares have opened mostly higher after U.S. stocks rose to records to close out their latest winning week. U.S. futures and oil prices also climbed.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was an outlier, falling 0.6% to 20,869.39, but the Shanghai Composite gained 0.8% to 3,288.32. The A-share index of the smaller market in Shenzhen picked up 2.2%.
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 skeptical 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% at 39.078.33, while the Kospi in Seoul surged 0.8% to 2,614.75. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.7% 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.
Early Monday, U.S. benchmark crude was up 38 cents at $69.07 per barrel in electronic
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