The Asian equity benchmarks ended mostly in green on Thursday, as investors awaited a European Central Bank decision on quantitative-easing strategy. Chinese shares rallied as the People’s Bank of China pumped funds into the financial system. The PBOC conducted its first reverse-repurchase operation in a year, adding money to the financial system after saying it rolled over a 269.5 billion yuan ($43.4 billion) lending facility to banks ahead of next month’s Chinese New Year holiday. Premier Li Keqiang, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, stated that China will avoid a hard landing and will ensure an appropriate pace of growth. The nation’s economic expansion in 2014 slowed to its weakest pace in 24 years and a real-estate developer’s failure to meet an interest payment is raising the specter of a pickup in debt defaults. Japan’s central bank expects the world’s third largest economy to rebound in the coming fiscal year after contracting 0.5% this fiscal year, in an upbeat assessment that scuttled hopes for fresh stimulus. The Bank of Japan ended a policy meeting without any major change to its ultra-loose monetary policy. Japan’s All Industries Activity Index rose to a seasonally adjusted 0.1%, whose figure was revised up from -0.1%.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 3,343.34 | 19.73 | 0.59 |
Hang Seng | 24,522.63 | 170.05 | 0.70 |
Jakarta Composite | 5,253.18 | 37.92 | 0.73 |
KLSE Composite | 1,781.75 | 11.66 | 0.66 |
Nikkei 225 | 17,329.02 | 48.54 | 0.28 |
Straits Times | 3,370.29 | 15.83 | 0.47 |
KOSPI Composite | 1,920.82 | -0.41 | -0.02 |
Taiwan Weighted | 9,369.51 | 49.80 | 0.53 |