Chinese stocks surge to a 2-year high after China's central bank announces $101 billion of fresh stimulus
- China's Shanghai Composite rose to a 2-year high on Monday after the country's central announced $101 billion of fresh stimulus.
- The index moved up 2.3% to 3438.80. The last time it reached that level was in January 2018.
- Chinese stocks may have also been supported by a delay in a review of the Phase One trade deal between US and China, that was initially organized for Saturday.
Chinese stocks climbed to a two-year high on Monday after the country's central bank announced $101 billion in new stimulus measures.
The People's Bank of China added 700 billion yuan ($101 billion) of one-year funding through a medium-term lending facility, signifying that it is willing to loosen monetary policy to combat the economic fall out of the coronavirus pandemic.
China's Shanghai Composite moved up 2.3% to 3438.80. The last time it reached that level was in January 2018.
Chinese stocks may have also been supported by a delay in a review of the Phase One trade deal between US and China, that was initially organized for Saturday.
Sources told Reuters the reason behind the postponement was conflicting schedules between both parties and wanting to give China more time to fulfill commitments to buy the amount of US goods agreed upon in the deal.
Here's the market roundup as of 11.45 a.m. in London (6.45 a.m. ET):
- Asian indexes are mostly up. China's Shanghai Composite up 2.3%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.7%, and Japan's Nikkei down 0.8%.
- European equities were up a little with Germany's DAX up 0.15%, Britain's FTSE 100 up 0.6% and the Euro Stoxx 50 flat.
- US stocks are set to open higher. Futures underlying the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2% the S&P 500 up 0.3% and the US Tech 100 rose 0.6%.
- Oil prices fell with West Texas Intermediate down 0.2% at $41.92 and Brent crude down 0.4% at $44.63.
- The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to 0.69%.
- Gold rose 0.6% to $1962 per ounce.
But Japan's Nikkei fell almost 1% by the close after the world's third-largest economy recorded it's worst contraction in around 40 years. The economy shrank 27.8% in the second quarter compared to 2019, as Japan closed down to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Oil markets moved up in early trading and then retraced some of those gains due to uncertainty looming around an OPEC meeting scheduled for Wednesday.
Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at Avatrade, said: "Crude and Brent oil are on the move today and both have surged ahead of the OPEC+ gathering this week. "
He added: "The agenda for this gathering is to discuss the supply deal. Investors are hoping that the supply will remain in check as global oil demand is still very fragile and dismal."