Hong Kong: Asian markets staged a rare rally Wednesday following a bounce on Wall Street, with attention turning to the release of key US jobs data later in the week.
However, while investors briefly have a spring in their step, a mountain of problems — from China-US trade tensions and Brexit, to Chinese weakness and rising US interest rates — is keeping optimism at a premium.
October has been a painful month for Asian equities, which have seen billions wiped from their values, and observers warn of further pain with Washington and Beijing seemingly unlikely to back off from their tariffs standoff anytime soon.
Still, Wall Street put in a healthy performance Tuesday — the Dow added 1.8 percent while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq jumped 1.6 percent — after data showed US consumer confidence at a new 18-year high in October.
The positive reading sent the dollar up against the yen and the unit continued to rise in Asia, providing a push for Japanese exporters.
By the break the Nikkei in Tokyo was 1.6 percent higher.
In other markets Hong Kong added 0.9 percent and Shanghai jumped 0.8 percent.
In mainland China, data indicating a slowdown in manufacturing activity in October was offset by authorities’ support moves including tax cuts, measures to make it easier for firms to buy back shares and providing liquidity to markets.
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Source: Brecorder
