Stocks of Asian region rallied to two-week highs on Thursday, building on strong global gains after an agreement among global central banks to make cheaper dollar loans available to struggling European banks while, news of 50-basis-point cut in Chinese bank’s reserve requirement ratio too strengthen the sentiments. The US Federal Reserve, and the central banks of the UK, the euro zone, Canada, Japan and Switzerland announced that they had agreed to reduce the cost of offering dollar financing through swap arrangements.
China’s benchmark stock index closed 2.3 percent higher on Thursday, the biggest percentage rise in 5 weeks and with banking stocks up sharply, after the central bank announced a cut in banks’ reserve requirement ratios (RRR) in a reversal of its recent tight monetary policy stance. The People's Bank of China announced a 50-basis-point RRR cut after the market closed on Wednesday, which will take effect on December 5, a policy shift to ease credit strains and shore up an economy running at its weakest pace since 2009.
Asian Indices | Last Trade | Change in Points | Change in % |
Shanghai Composite | 2,386.96 | 53.45 | 2.29 |
Hang Seng | 19,002.26 | 1,012.91 | 5.63 |
Jakarta Composite | 3,781.10 | 66.02 | 1.78 |
KLSE Composite | 1,485.26 | 13.16 | 0.89 |
Nikkei 225 | 8,597.38 | 162.77 | 1.93 |
Straits Times | 2,761.88 | 59.42 | 2.20 |
Seoul Composite | 1,916.18 | 68.67 | 3.72 |
Taiwan Weighted | 7,178.69 | 274.57 | 3.98 |