As businesses start reopening, markets are seeing optimism. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa
However, South Korea warned of a second wave of the new coronavirus as infections rebounded to a one-month high, while new infections accelerated in Germany, which has been cautiously easing its own lockdown. By 0825 GMT, European markets were up but off the day’s highs - the Euro STOXX 600 gained 0.11 per cent while Germany’s managed a 0.39 per cent rise and Britain’s FTSE 100 a 0.36 per cent gain.
“Since late March there has been an extraordinary divergence between the real economy and financial risk, with the latter helped by unprecedented policy accommodation,” said Alan Ruskin, head of G10 FX at Deutsche Bank.