Friday, 15 November 2013

ASIA: STOCKS FINISH HIGHER ON HOPES OF CHINA REFORMS

Asian stocks rallied on expectations that China would release wide ranging reforms to boost the world's second largest economy.

Communist Party newspaper the People's Daily today cited a senior government official who said that China's reforms will be "unprecedented".

A document issued late Tuesday by the party was absent of concree reform policies following the Third Plenum, a meeting of Chinese leaders.

"Expectations for reforms have been heightened again, prompting investors to snap up stocks," Zeng Xianzhao, an analyst at Everbright Securities, told The Wall Street Journal.

The Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.68% while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.69%.

Bolstering stocks in Japan was a weaker yen which supported exports. The Japanese currency weakened against the US dollar as Fed Vice Chairwoman Janet Yellen said the US economy needs to improve before the central bank ends its $85bn-a-month bond-buying programme. 

Japanese finance minister Taro Aso on Thursday indicated that government would push back against strengthening of the yen.

Japan's Nikkei finished up 1.95%

Source: LiveCharts

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