Asian Shares Rally As China Vows To Step Up Fiscal Support

Asian stocks rose sharply on Thursday as U.S. memory chip maker Micron forecast higher than expected first-quarter revenue and China’s politburo vowed to step up fiscal support to stabilize the beleaguered property sector.

Investor sentiment was also underpinned after the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development slightly raised its global economic growth forecast for 2024 and said it expects more Fed rate cuts next year.

The dollar index rebounded in Asian trading as focus shifted to the release of U.S. GDP data and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech.

Gold hovered near record levels after a handful of Federal Reserve officials left the door open to another large rate cut.

Oil extended an overnight slide, falling more than 2 percent in Asian trading after the Financial Times reported that Saudi Arabia – the de facto leader of OPEC – was prepared to pump more oil to regain market share.

China’s Shanghai Composite Index surged 3.6 percent to 3,000.95, marking its highest closing level since June and capping its seventh straight winning session, buoyed by the politburo’s promise to step up counter-cyclical adjustments of fiscal and monetary policy and strive to achieve full-year economic and social development targets.

A Bloomberg News report citing unnamed sources that China is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($142.48 billion) of capital into its biggest state banks to support the struggling economy.

Hong Kong’s tech-heavy Hang Seng Index soared 4.2 percent to 19,924.58, driven by Micron Technology Inc.’s after-hours rally.

Japanese markets rallied as a weaker yen lifted export-related stocks. The Nikkei 225 Index jumped 2.8 percent to 38,925.63, while the broader Topix Index settled 2.7 percent higher at 2,721.12.

Automakers Honda Motor and Toyota surged around 3 percent each, while chip giants Tokyo Electron and Advantest rallied 8 percent and 5.4 percent, respectively.

The yen fell to a three-week low against the dollar after the minutes of the Bank of Japan’s July policy meeting showed board members are split over the future path of interest rates.

Seoul stocks advanced, with the Kospi surging 2.9 percent to 2,671.57 as China ramped up support for its economy.

Semiconductor maker SK Hynix soared 9.4 percent after an announcement that it began volume production of a 12-layer memory chip known as HBM3E. Heavyweight Samsung Electronics jumped 4 percent.

Australian markets posted strong gains, with retailers and tech companies leading the surge. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped 1.0 percent to 8,203.70, while the broader All Ordinaries Index closed up 1.1 percent at 8,462.80.

Across the Tasman, New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX-50 Index rallied 2.2 percent to 12,491.58.

U.S. stocks closed lower overnight as investors pondered the health of the U.S. economy and chances of another super-sized interest rate cut at the Fed’s next meeting in November.

Housing data painted a mixed picture of the economy, with new home sales pulling back sharply in August while mortgage applications jumped to the highest level since 2022.

The Dow dropped 0.7 percent to snap a four-session winning streak and the S&P 500 slipped 0.2 percent, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished marginally higher.