This July 6, 2015 photo shows a sign for Wall Street carved into the side of a building, in NY.
Advertisement
SINGAPORE/TOKYO, Aug 5 Most Asian stock markets rose on Friday after the Bank of England launched a larger-than-expected post-Brexit stimulus package that sent the pound reeling.
Wall Street shares were little changed as investors were largely wary of making big bets ahead of Friday’s US nonfarm payrolls report, data that may offer insight into the timing of the next Federal Reserve interest rate increase. Oil prices rose for the second day in a row, something that hadn’t happened for nearly three weeks.
But now that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union after all, the bank is doing its best to make the transition as smooth as possible. Tokyo advanced 0.3 percent to 16,300.75 and Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.6 percent to 2,011.59.
Growth this year was forecast at 2%, unchanged from May’s outlook after a much stronger than expected second-quarter growth figure made up for a slowdown after the European Union referendum.
The pound was broadly higher by 0.2 percent to $1.3131, after posting earlier losses of 1.6 percent on Thursday, suggesting its deepest drop in a month.
In response Carney said they will “take whatever action is needed” including boosting the Term Funding Scheme (TFS) a programme to help banks keep lending to businesses and individuals: This timely, coherent and comprehensive package of measures is appropriately sized, given the scale of the shock, uncertainties about the degree of adjustment and the relatively limited data.
The much awaited Bank of England interest rate cut has been announced.
Policymakers voted unanimously to cut rates to a new historic low of 0.25 per cent from 0.5 per cent – the first cut since March 2009, when the Bank reduced rates at the height of the financial crisis. It will inject 70 billion pounds ($92 billion) into the economy by printing money to buy bonds of the British government and those of companies, according to CNN Money.
US crude was down 0.2 percent at $41.83 a barrel after surging almost 3 percent overnight. Brent crude, which is used to price Global oils, dropped 34 cents to $42.76 a barrel in London. Its stock lost $5.65, or 8.1 percent, to $63.84.
NOT A BIG SPLASH: Theme park operator SeaWorld said its revenue fell in the second quarter as guest numbers from Latin America dropped because of economic turmoil there and bad weather. Its stock gained $9.22, or 10.5 percent, to $96.95. Germany’s DAX was up 0.7 percent to 10,245 and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.5 percent to 4,343.
The Aussie climbed 0.4 percent to $0.7659, and Australian shares also closed up 0.4 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225 finished 1.1 percent higher.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan extended gains to 0.9 per cent, headed for a 0.6 per cent weekly gain.
Advertisement
The pound slid against the Singapore dollar and was trading 1.34 per cent lower at S$1.7597 from its close of S$1.7841 on Thursday. The dollar inched up to 101.19 yen from 101.13 yen and the euro dipped to $1.1132 from $1.1145.
