Asian stocks edged up for a fifth straight day on Monday on hopes policy efforts so far to dampen the impact of the financial crisis woul d ultimately take hold, though data still painted an ugly picture of the global economy.
Investors were also cautiously shopping for bargains after shares and commodity prices globally in October posted their biggest decline ever on fears of a deep recession in the world economy. Expectations of more interest rate cuts this week from Australia, Britain and the euro zone following last week's reductions from China, India, Japan and the United States among others has at the least slowed the panicked selling of risky assets that dominated most of October. "It seems that external factors are improving somewhat, particularly in terms of sentiment," said Kim Seung-han, a market analyst at HI Investment & Securities in Seoul. The scramble from equities, commodities and local currency emerging market bonds in October had poured money into yen, U.S. Treasuries and the U.S. dollar, which had its largest monthly in gain in 17 years. These trends were not expected to reverse any time soon, but investors were taking the relative calm in markets to balance their portfolios. The MSCI index of stocks in the Asia-Pacific region outside Japan rose 4.2 per cent, up for a fifth consecutive session after having dropped 24.6 per cent in October for its biggest monthly decline in the gauge's 20-year history. The benchmark KOSPI in South Korea gained 2.5 per cent, boosted by details on a $11 bn government fiscal stimulus package that officials said would add a full percentage point to total output. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed 3.8 per cent, led by solid gains in shares of heavyweights like China Mobile, HSBC and ICBC that had been hammered in the last month. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday. The parade of rate cuts from Beijing to Washington and massive amounts of U.S. dollar liquidity flooding the financial system have pulled lower lending rates between banks and even improved investor sentiment, despite the strong potential for higher unemployment and softer consumer spending around the world. Growth in Korean exports was at a 13-month low in October, hurt by crimped demand from both developed and emerging markets. The report was the first big Asian economy to report trade data for last month, likely previewing weakness in the region's biggest sore spot because of the global slowdown: exports. Crude prices rose slightly, with dealers taking cues from equities and the U.S. dollar. U.S. light crude for December delivery inched up 38 cents to $68.20 a barrel. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Kences1" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/kences1?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
