SINGAPORE – Asia Pacific stocks rose in Monday morning trading as investors continue to monitor the Covid situation regionally.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 2.19% in morning trading while the Topix index rose 2.18%.
In Taiwan, the Taiex gained 1.51%. South Korea’s Kospi also gained 0.87%.
Mainland stocks rose, with the Shanghai composite rising 0.35% and the Shenzhen holding 0.574%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 1.11%.
The S & P / ASX 200 in Australia climbed 0.8% higher.
MSCI’s broadest index for Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan traded 0.97% higher.
In the economic news on Friday, China’s central bank announced a 50 basis point reduction in the reserve requirement ratio for all banks with effect from July.
The RRR represents the amount of money that banks must keep in their coffers in relation to their total deposits. Lowering this required amount will increase the supply of money banks can lend to businesses and individuals.
The move should show that the country has “a variety of policy tools to conduct monetary policy,” wrote ANZ Research’s Raymond Yeung and Zhaopeng Xing in a Friday memo.
The RRR cut is “almost synonymous with broad-based easing,” said Yeung and Xing, as it will free about 1 trillion Chinese yuan ($ 154 billion) in funds.
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The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of its competitors, hit 92.091 after falling over 92.4 recently.
The Japanese yen was trading at 110.02 per dollar, weaker than last week against the greenback below 110. The Australian dollar traded at $ 0.7477, still below the level of over $ 0.755 reached last week.
Oil prices were higher on the morning of Asian trading hours, with international benchmark Brent crude oil futures rising slightly to $ 75.62 a barrel. US crude oil futures rose 0.19% to $ 74.70 a barrel.
– CNBC’s Yen Nee Lee contributed to this report.
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