Asian-Pacific Markets Buoyant

Stock markets in the Asia-Pacific trading zone enjoyed a record day over the course of trade today off the back of a record day for the Dow Jones yesterday, according to the official results from throughout the region.

The Japanese leading exchange, the Nikkei was up way beyond the 17,000 mark, a landmark figure for the region’s biggest index as a result of strong trade from US and European markets on the previous day. Likewise exchanges in Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore were also all significantly up on the day to reflect the first excessively strong day in months.

The move was sparked by the record performance on the Dow Jones, which saw it break 14,000 off the back of poor economic data which was thought to make further interest rate cuts more likely in the immediate future.

With world markets in turmoil as a result of the condition of the US economy, the news of strong trade on the Dow soon filtered through, and trading in Japan particularly opened thunderously to close resoundingly up on the day.

The prospect of further interest rate cuts has been seen to be a sign that the Federal Reserve are determined to act as far as possible to prevent the US economy from suffering the full effects of a recession over the next year or so.

With interest rates now likely to be cut even beyond their 4.75% rate at present, markets were buoyed by the promise of more stable credit markets, lower bank inter-lending rates and a more favourable economic climate in the US and worldwide.

With many analysts feeling the summer credit crunch could be drawing to a close, the stock markets throughout Asia were again ringing with trade, with the Hang Seng up almost 4% over the course of one day. The Singapore Straits Times exchange was also setting records, trading beyond all previously recorded figures for the fourth consecutive day.

Story link: Asian-Pacific Markets Buoyant