Asian shares advance after China cuts interest rates to boost economy

MUMBAI: Asian shares rallied Tuesday after China cut key interest rates as part of its effort to fend off malaise worsened by the trade war.

Shares in China's CATL, the world's largest maker of electric batteries, jumped about 13 per cent in its Hong Kong trading debut after it raised about USD 4.6 billion in the world's largest IPO this year.

Its shares traded in Shenzhen, mainland China's smaller share market after Shanghai, edged 0.1 per cent higher after dipping earlier in the day.

China's central bank made its first cut to its loan prime rates in seven months in a move welcomed by investors eager for more stimulus as the world's second largest economy feels the pinch of higher tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump.

The People's Bank of China cut the one-year loan prime rate, the reference rate for pricing all new loans and outstanding floating rate loans, to 3.00 per cent from 3.1 per cent. It cut the 5-year loan prime rate to 3.5 per cent from 3.6 per cent.

With China's chief concern being deflation due to slack demand rather than inflation, economists have been expecting such a move. Data reported Monday showed the economy under pressure from Trump's trade war, with retail sales and factory output slowing and property investment continuing to fall.

Tuesday's cuts probably won't be the last this year, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report.

“But modest rate cuts alone are unlikely to meaningfully boost loan demand or wider economic activity,” Huang said.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.9 per cent to 23,542.46 early Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.1 per cent higher.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 climbed 0.5 per cent to 37,685.09, while Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 per cent to 8,343.30.

South Korea's Kospi added 0.1 per cent to 2,606.58, while the Taiex in Taiwan was up 0.4 per cent.

On Monday, US stocks, bonds and the value of the US dollar drifted through a quiet day after Moody's Ratings became the last of the three major credit-rating agencies to say the US federal government no longer deserves a top-tier “Aaa” rating.

The S&P 500 picked up 0.1 per cent to 5,963.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 per cent to 42,792.07, and the Nasdaq composite rose just 4.36 points to 19,215.46.

Moody's pointed to how the US government continues to borrow more and more money to pay for its expenses, with political bickering an obstacle to cutting spending or raising taxes order to get the national debt under more control.

The problems aren't new. Standard & Poor's lowered its credit rating for the US government in 2011.

The move by Moody's essentially warns investors globally not to lend to the US government at such low interest rates, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly jumped above 4.55 per cent early Monday morning. But it later regressed to 4.45 per cent as more calm returned to the market.

The yield on a 30-year Treasury bond briefly leaped above 5 per cent before likewise receding, up from less than 4 per cent in September.

The downgrade by Moody's comes as Washington is set to debate potential cuts in tax rates that could siphon away more revenue.

If Washington has to pay more in interest to borrow cash to pay its bills, that could cause interest rates to rise for US households and businesses too, in turn slowing the economy.

The downgrade adds to a long list of concerns that have already weighed on the market. Chief among them is President Donald Trump's trade war, which itself has forced investors globally to question whether the US bond market and the US dollar still deserve their reputations as some of the safest places to park cash during a crisis.

The US economy has held up so far and hopes are high that Trump will eventually relent on his tariffs after striking trade deals with other countries.

But big companies have been warning about uncertainty over the future. Walmart, for example, said recently that it will likely have to raise prices because of tariffs. That caused Trump over the weekend to criticise Walmart and demand it and China “eat the tariffs.”

Walmart's stock slipped 0.1 per cent Monday.

In other trading early Tuesday, US benchmark crude oil slipped 2 cents to USD 62.12 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, shed 7 cents to USD 65.47 per barrel.

The US dollar fell to 144.83 Japanese yen from 144.86 yen. The euro was unchanged at USD 1.1244.