Weekend
news from China drove Chinese stocks sharply higher (before the fade
back):
- Shanghai
Composite Index opens up over 5% - Shenzhen
Component Index up 5.7% - Chinext
Price Index up nearly 7% (tech
heavy index) - CSI300
up more than 5% - Securities
brokerages hit limit-up across the board - Property
developers strong rally
The
news was of a Chinese
authorities release aimed at boosting the stock
market. Most
notable were easier margin restrictions and moves to restrict the
selling of stocks by institutions. Of course, moves to restrict the
selling of stocks hardly seems confidence inspiring but the headline
impact is clear, fewer sellers and prices jumped. Buy now, worry later.
CNH rose early, pre-empting the stock moves (FX trades much earlier than the relaxed folks on stock markets do) and has since retraced.
AUD
and NZD seemed to catch some positive sentiment from this on the
session, both rose a little, but nothing like China shares did. EUR,
GBP, CAD barely moved.
USD/JPY
ticked a little higher after comments from Bank of Japan Governor
Ueda on Saturday in Jackson Hole reiterate his commitment to loose
policy.
Asian
equity markets:
-
Japan’s Nikkei 225 +1.7%
-
China’s Shanghai Composite +2.4%
-
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng +2%
-
South Korea’s KOSPI +0.8%
-
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 +0.6%
–
As a side note China Evergrande shares resumed trade today after a 17-month suspension. Shares fell nearly 90% at the open.