On Monday morning (22 September, 9:07 AM, GMT+7, Bangkok time), indices in Asia Pacific traded mixed, following the decision from China’s central bank to keep its key interest rates steady.
The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) announced on Monday that the one-year loan prime rate (LPR), which serves as a reference for most new and outstanding loans, would remain at 3.0%, while the five-year LPR, widely used to determine mortgage pricing, was kept at 3.5%.
The central bank opted to leave its key lending rates unchanged for the fourth straight month, maintaining a cautious stance even as the U.S. Federal Reserve moved to lower interest rates last week.
The decision matched expectations among economists, who had anticipated that Chinese officials would refrain from introducing significant stimulus measures at this time.
Japan’s NIKKEI soared by 1.3% to 45,632.65. South Korea’s KOSPI rose by 0.77% to 3,471.84, and Australia’s ASX 200 grew by 0.27% to 8,797.6.
As for stocks in China, Shanghai’s SSEC declined by 0.1% to 3,816.41. Hong Kong’s HSI dropped by 0.6% to 26,384.93, and Shenzhen’s SZI slid by 0.19% to 13,045.64.
The U.S. stock markets edged up on Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) increased by 0.37% to 46,315.27. NASDAQ added 0.72% to 22,631.47, and S&P 500 gained 0.49% to 6,664.36. VIX fell by 1.59% to 15.45.
As for commodities, oil prices settled lower on Friday as concerns over ample supply and weakening demand overshadowed hopes that the interest rate reduction by the U.S. Federal Reserve would drive an uptick in consumption. Brent crude ended the session down 76 cents, or 1.1%, at $66.68 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude settled 89 cents lower, or 1.4%, at $62.68 per barrel.
This morning, Brent futures surged 33 cents, or 0.49%, to $67.01 a barrel, and the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) escalated 34 cents, or 0.54%, to $63.02 per barrel.
Meanwhile, gold futures expanded 0.47% to $3,723.1 per Troy ounce.
