Modupe Gbadeyanka
By Investors Hub
Asian stocks recovered from early losses to close mostly higher on Wednesday as investors took trade tensions in stride and looked ahead to the Bank of England monetary policy meeting on Thursday and Friday’s OPEC meeting for directional cues.
Chinese stocks closed higher after the People’s Bank of China said in a working paper that China should appropriately reduce its reserve requirements to ease burdens on financial institutions and smooth the interest rate transmission mechanism.
The central bank also injected funds into the financial system via its medium-term lending facility to offset liquidity pressure.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 8.92 points or 0.3 percent to 2,916.74, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 228.02 points or 0.8 percent to 29,696.17.
Japanese shares ended a choppy session higher as the dollar rose against the yen and Chinese markets recovered from an earlier sell-off.
The Nikkei 225 Index recovered from initial losses to end up 276.95 points or 1.2 percent at 22,555.43. The broader Topix Index advanced 0.5 percent to 1,752.75.
Market heavyweights Fast Retailing and SoftBank rallied 3.5 percent and 2.3 percent, respectively. Automakers Honda and Toyota as well as banks Mitsubishi UFJ Financial and Sumitomo Mitsui Financial ended well off their day’s lows.
In economic news, minutes from the Bank of Japan’s April meeting showed that board members believe the trade policies of the United States and China are a risk to the downside.
Australian shares rose sharply to reach a 10-year high, led by banks after the Aussie dollar hit levels not seen since May of 2017 in response to rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China.
The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index jumped 70.50 points or 1.2 percent to 6,172.60, while the broader All Ordinaries Index surged up 65.70 points or 1.1 percent at 6,274.60.
The big four banks rallied 2-3 percent. Healthcare stocks also gained ground, with CSL and Cochlear rising 1.1 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.
Santos jumped 3 percent and Woodside Petroleum rose over 1 percent as oil recovered some of the previous session’s losses on API data showing a drop in U.S. commercial crude inventories.
Real estate agent McGrath soared 26.5 percent after it decided to sell a 15 percent stake to property developer Aqualand Group.
Meanwhile, telecom giant Telstra slumped 4.8 percent after it announced major job cuts and unveiled plans to split its infrastructure operations in a bid to bring down costs.
