Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Asian Stocks Rise As Chinese Elite Gathers in Beijing

Posted by Anonymous at 10:38 Labels:

Asian markets rose in early trading hours on Wednesday as Chinese communist elite gathered in Beijing to kick off a once-in-five-years meeting to define the define a batch of policies that will shape the future of the country in the medium term.

Australia ASX -3.30 -0.06% 5,954.80 CLOSED
Shanghai Comp +9.75 +0.29% 3,381.79 CLOSED
Hang Seng Index -9.08 -0.03% 28,688.41 OPEN
Nikkei 225 +26.93 +0.13% 21,363.05 CLOSED
TSEC 50 Index -2.87 -0.03% 10,720.28 CLOSED

President Xi Jinping gave an opening speech of 3-½ hours on Wednesday, in which he emphasized China has a bright future, but recognized that there are serious challenges ahead.

Xi said a greater market access in the services sector is part of his plan to strengthen the economy, together with a large number of deep economic reforms.

"We will unite the Chinese people of all ethnic groups and lead them to a decisive victory in building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and in the drive to secure the success of socialism with Chinese characteristics for a new era," Xi explained to CP members.

Xi believes the country will see further benefits from a market-oriented reform of exchange and interest rates, as well as a series of measures to relax market access for foreign investment.

On the corporate front, Rio Tinto has been charged with fraud the US Securities and Exchange Commission. According to a media reports, the mining company has been inflating its assets in Mozambique. The company responded with a statement, saying it will “vigorously defend itself” the charges presented in the case brought by the SEC.

"Rio Tinto's top executives allegedly breached their disclosure obligations and corporate duties by hiding from their board, auditor, and investors the crucial fact that a multi-billion dollar transaction was a failure," said SEC Enforcement Division Co-Director Stephanie Avakian.

Wall Street top indexes were again cheered by better-than-expected earnings, which contributed to keep the positive sentiment flowing around investors.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up at 22,997.44. The S&P 500 ended with a 0.05 percent gain while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite marked a 0.01 percent loss at 6623.

Ahead in Europe, traders will be paying attention to ECB President Mario Draghi, who is set to speak as of 08:10 GMT. ECB Praet will follow at 11:45 GMT.

On the data front, investors will keep an eye UK average earnings, claimant count and unemployment rate as of 08:30 GMT. In the US, building permits and housing starts for September are due at 12:30 GMT. Fed’s beige book is set for release at 18:00 GMT.

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