A chaotic start to the week saw China’s stock market soar as Beijing rolled out further stimulus measures, but Japan slumped on the appointment of a new, less market-friendly prime minister, and the FTSE 100 slipped as UK economic growth was revised lower.
The Shanghai stock exchange jumped an astonishing 8% after China’s central bank ordered lenders to reduce mortgage rates for existing home loans, in addition to the other measures put in place last week to stimulate the ailing property market and support the broader economy.
‘Chinese authorities have finally decided to “go big” on providing support to their ailing economy. Signs that growth was weakening further from an already subdued pace increasingly made the official 5% GDP growth target unrealistic, and the risk of the economy slowing below stall speed was becoming real,’ said Adrien Pichoud, chief economist and senior portfolio manager at Bank Syz.
