China stimulus pushes global shares to new peak, boosts commodities

By Ankur Banerjee and Sruthi Shankar

SINGAPORE/LONDON (Reuters) – World stocks hit a record high on Tuesday after China unveiled stimulus measures to support its economy and stock markets, sending Asian and European shares higher and triggering a bounce in commodity prices.

People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Pan Gongsheng announced plans to lower borrowing costs and inject more funds into the economy, as well as to ease households’ mortgage repayment burden. Pan also said China will roll out structural monetary policy tools for the first time to help stabilise capital markets.

The moves sent Chinese stocks higher, with the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite index surging more than 4% each. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index jumped more than 4% to a four-month high.

“Investor positioning (in China stocks) is underweight and stimulus measures would set up a positive backdrop over the coming months,” said Jefferies economist Mohit Kumar.

“However, we do not think that it’s a bazooka that would fundamentally change our outlook for China yet. More targeted measures supporting property and infrastructure would be required for a shift in our views.”

Chinese stocks have been laggards in the Asian region, with the CSI300 index down 2.3% this year, having hit multi-year lows as piecemeal stimulus from authorities failed to galvanise its markets.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.8%, with China-exposed mining and luxury stocks in the lead. The German blue-chip DAX traded just below all-time highs. [.EU]

The MSCI world stocks index gained 0.3% to touch a record high. Futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street. [.N]

The upbeat mood sent commodity prices higher too, with oil prices up nearly 1.5%. Copper prices jumped to a more than two-month high, aided by expectations of improving demand in top consumer China. [O/R] [MET/L]

Iron ore futures trading on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange logged their largest intraday gain in more than a year. [IRONORE/]

Gold prices paused after hitting a record high of $2,639.95 earlier as escalating tensions in the Middle East drew safe-haven flows. [GOL/]

RBA STICKS TO ITS GUNS

The Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady as expected and reiterated that policy needed to stay tight, in contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve which started its easing cycle with a 50-basis-point cut last week.

The Australian dollar slipped 0.1% to $0.6831, having touched its strongest level of 2024 earlier at $0.68695.

Meanwhile, the U.S. dollar touched a 20-day high against the yen, up 0.7% at 144.54 yen. The Bank of Japan kept interest rates steady last Friday, signalling it was in no rush to raise borrowing costs further.

In a speech at a meeting with business leaders in Osaka on Tuesday, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said it can afford to spend time scrutinising market and overseas economic developments in setting monetary policy.

Meanwhile, markets are currently evenly split on whether the U.S. central bank will go for another 50 bp cut or a 25 bp cut in November, CME Fedwatch tool showed. They are pricing in 76 bps of easing this year.

Brown Brothers Harriman Senior Markets Strategist Elias Haddad said the market is overestimating the Fed’s capacity to ease. “However, it will likely take strong U.S. jobs data to trigger a material upward reassessment in Fed funds rate expectations.”

The next non-farm payrolls report is due Oct. 4 and until then, Haddad said a more dovish Fed and a strong U.S. economy will support market sentiment and further undermine the dollar against growth-sensitive currencies.

The dollar index, which measures the U.S. currency against six rivals, was a touch lower at 100.82, not far from the one-year low of 100.21 hit last week. [FRX/]

The euro edged 0.3% higher to $1.1141. The currency dropped about 0.5% on Monday as soft business activity reports for the euro zone economy raised expectations for more rate cuts by the European Central Bank.

(Editing by Sam Holmes, Shri Navaratnam and Susan Fenton)