Chinese blue chips jumped 3.0% in choppy trade, off their year-to-date lows, as investors welcomed the economic relief.
The help was needed given profits at China’s industrial firms fell 6.7% in July from a year earlier, extending this year’s slump to a seventh month. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbed 1.4%, having eked out minor gains last week to break a three-week losing streak.The improvement in risk sentiment saw EUROSTOXX 50 futures add 0.7%, while FTSE futures were closed for a holiday. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq futures both edged up 0.1%, extending last week’s modest rise.
“We continue to expect that the FOMC will ultimately decide that further policy tightening is unnecessary, making the hike at the July FOMC meeting the last of the cycle.” Figures on EU inflation this week may also be instrumental in whether the European Central Bank decides to hike next month. The odd man out was Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda who on Friday reiterated the need for policy to stay super loose.