The main Asian indicators show significant gains in today's trading. The Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong was the best performer to date, closing up 9% yesterday and another 5.77% today. Other indicators also had a fairly good performance. The Shanghai Composite rose by 2.59% and the Shenzhen Composite gained 3.56%. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 added 3.46%, Korea's KOSPI climbed by 1.42% and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped by 1.12%. Such a significant increase in stock indicators for the second consecutive session is due to the results of a meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Committee under the leadership of the Chinese deputy prime minister. According to news agencies, market-friendly policies are planned, as well as support from the PRC authorities for the smooth operation of capital, which will be provided to real estate and internet-based companies.
It is also reported that talks are continuing and some progress has been made between the PRC and the US regarding Chinese companies trading on US exchanges. As a reminder, the US government has previously promised to delist several Chinese companies from US stock exchanges due to their non-compliance with US law. The possibility that some Chinese companies could leave US exchanges was the main reason for the decline in the value of Chinese securities. Another positive signal for investors was the results of yesterday's meeting of the US Federal Reserve. It was announced that it had decided to raise interest rates by 25 points to combat the rising rate of inflation. The Fed governor said that if necessary, the regulator is prepared to raise the rate at subsequent meetings as well. The rate hike was the first since 2018, but the market was ready for such a decision as experts had already predicted it some time ago.
Among the components of the Hang Seng Index, Country Garden Holdings Co. gained the most, adding 21.9%, as did JD.com Inc., Meituan and Alibaba Group Holding, Ltd. which added 13.9%, 13.8% and 12% respectively. Among the components of the Nikkei 225 index, Japan Steel Works, Ltd. (+7.4%), SoftBank Group (+7%) and Asia Fast Retailing (+6.6%) appreciated the most. South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and Hyundai Motor also gained 1.4% and 1.5%, respectively.
Australia's unemployment rate fell to 4% last month, down from 4.2% in January. Unemployment in the country reached its lowest level in 15 years. Meanwhile, experts predicted the rate would drop to 4.1%. Share prices of the country's biggest companies also showed gains. BHP was up by 1.1% and Rio Tinto gained 1.6%.
