Chinese shares had a strong day on Monday, rising over 3 percent to their highest level in seven weeks, whilst other Asian markets remained largely flat.
Bejing has taken further measures to stimulate the market and has said the correction is “almost over”. The Chinese government’s actions over the past weeks have supported various sectors and seems to have calmed investor sentiment.
The Shanghai Composite was up 3.11% at 3,282.29 points in afternoon trade, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index up 0.96%. South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed flat, up 0.1%. Japan was closed for a national holiday.
September’s U.S. jobs report has continued to have an affect on the markets, with investors finding it likely that the Fed will not deliver a rate hike this year. Although the Bank of England’s Mark Carney said on Friday that England will not necessarily wait for the US to move first, there is speculation that interest rates won’t be going up in the UK either until autumn next year.
According to the EY Item Club in an interview with BBC’s Radio 4 this morning, the UK is unlikely to move this year:
“Remember last year, that was when oil prices crashed and we saw some cuts on the forecourt in petrol prices.
“Unfortunately those cuts wear out, they come out of the 12-month calculation and inflation will start to push up then.”
The dollar has struggled against other currencies since the jobs report on Friday, trading at its lowest levels in over a month.
