Pedestrians walk past the Shanghai Stock Exchange building. Shares soared 2.71% at 4,194.82 points yesterday.

AFP/Tokyo


Asian markets rose yesterday, with Shanghai rallying on hopes for further China stimulus while Japanese shares were boosted by a weaker yen as the dollar reversed earlier losses.
The gains follow a positive lead from Wall Street, where another batch of weak figures was offset by a pick-up in oil prices, an upbeat Federal Reserve economic report and hopes for lower rates for a little longer.
Shanghai surged 2.71%, or 110.66 points, to 4,194.82 and Hong Kong gained 0.44%, or 120.89 points, to 27,739.71. Tokyo bounced from a morning sell-off to end slightly higher, gaining 16.01 points to 19,885.77.
Sydney advanced 0.66%, or 39.08 points, to close at 5,947.5 after a better-than-expected unemployment reading for March, while Seoul rose 0.94%, or 19.94 points, to 2,139.90.
In other markets, Bangkok rose 1.43%, or 22.17 points, to 1,570; Bumrungrad Hospital gained 1.97% to 155baht, while Airports of Thailand climbed 2.39% to 300baht.
Singapore fell 0.24%, or 8.34 points, to close at 3,531.61; Singapore Airlines declined 1.00% to Sg$11.90 while Singapore Telecom fell 1.77% to Sg$4.45.
Malaysia’s main index gained 0.42%, or 7.81 points, to close at 1,847.94; Maybank added 1.18% to 9.45 ringgit, Sime Darby rose 0.54% to 9.27 while RHB Capital lost 0.13% to 7.88 ringgit.
Jakarta ended up 0.11%, or 6.19 points, at 5,420.73; telecommunication infrastructure firm Tower Bersama Infrastructure gained 1.34% to 9,425 rupiah, while coal miner Indo Tambangraya Megah slipped 2.10% to 15,125 rupiah.
Taipei added 1.22%, or 116.81 points, to 9,656.87; Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co gained 2.80% to Tw$147.0 while Hon Hai Precision Industry closed 1.30% higher at Tw$93.3
Wellington rose 0.44% or 26.68 points to 5,881.76; telecom firm Spark gained 0.51% to NZ$2.93 and Trade Me was up 1.90% at NZ$3.75. Manila closed 0.53% higher, adding 41.74 points to 7,948.20; Universal Robina Corp rose 2.34% to 219 pesos and Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co fell 0.31% to 96.90 pesos.
Hong Kong’s bourse continued its rally after soaring over the past week with record turnover as mainland investors look for cheap assets in the city following a year-long rally in Shanghai that almost doubled its value.
Chinese investors have been flooding into stocks—using a link-up between the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges—on expectations China will ramp up its stimulus programme to support the struggling economy, which in January-March grew at its slowest pace in six years. On foreign exchange markets the dollar edged to ¥119.34 from ¥119.14 in New York. It had fallen below ¥119 at one point yesterday after the release in Washington of more weak data.
US industrial production fell 0.6% in March, according to the Fed, twice the decline projected by analysts. Also, the New York Fed said its Empire State index on manufacturing activity plunged into negative territory in April for the first time since December.
The data came on the heels of a disappointing US retail sales report that had dented the dollar on Tuesday.
The dollar has fallen back in the past few days as soft US figures narrow the chances the Fed will hike interest rates soon. Expectations earlier in the year had been for a rise as early as June as the economy showed signs of strength.
Sharon Zollner, a senior economist in Auckland at ANZ Bank New Zealand, wrote in a client note: “A June start to interest-rate normalisation is looking ever more unlikely.”
However, there was some good news in the Fed’s Beige Book report, a snapshot of economic conditions, which gave a positive outlook on growth and an improving labour market.
On Wall Street the Dow rose 0.42%, the S&P 500 added 0.51% and the Nasdaq climbed 0.68%. The euro bought $1.0635 and ¥127 against $1.0684 and ¥127.29 in US trade. The single currency has been weighed down by the European Central Bank’s new bond-buying stimulus programme. On Wednesday it voted to keep interest rates at their current all-time lows, as expected, and rejected speculation of an early end to its quantitative easing policy. ECB chief Mario Draghi said the scheme was working.
Australia’s dollar edged up half a cent to 77.77 US cents yesterday after figures showed the country’s jobless rate eased one 0.1 percentage point to 6.1% last month. The news beat a forecast of 6.3% and is seen by some as lowering the chances of another interest rate cut in the near term.
In oil trade US benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for May delivery eased 38 cents to $56.01 while Brent crude for June slipped 78 cents to $62.54 in afternoon trade.