Asian shares rallied following Beijing’s new move to support developers
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China erupted with protests against harsh COVID-19 restrictions over the last several days, and it appears that the authorities are ready to discuss an alternative approach. At least, this is what is being speculated following the announcement by the Chinese health officers, who said that a press conference is to be held later today, November 29th, to discuss the new measures. With many expecting a loosening of restrictions, Asian shares suddenly rallied.
The week kicks off with a massive Asia-wide rally
While the rally is believed to be in direct connection to the expected loosening of restrictions, another reason for it could be Beijing’s latest move to support developers. Regardless of what caused it, the rally has caused Chinese equities, the yuan itself, and essentially everything else throughout Asia to surge.
Different assets have potentially surged for other reasons, such as the rally of the Chinese property companies, which went up following the decision of the country’s securities regulator to remove the ban on equity refinancing for property companies. Chinese blue chips surged by nearly 3% as a result, which is believed to be the largest single-day rally in a month. If nothing else, it marked a reversal of significant drops witnessed yesterday, November 28th.
Following this, the shares of Hong Kong’s Hang Seng went up by 3.9%, while the MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan surged by 1.8%. Meanwhile, the US crude futures skyrocketed to $78.48 per barrel right after hitting the annual low. Around the same time, Brent surged to $88.83 after seeing a rise of $1.64.
Not all markets have joined the rally
Of course, not all markets are convinced that the rally will continue for long. Japan’s Nikkel saw a 0.5% slip, while EUROSTOXX 50 futures were flat. FTSE futures went up by a fairly small amount — only around 0.1%, with a similar situation seen when it comes to S&P 500 futures (0.2%) and Nasdaq futures (0.4%).
Previously mentioned Beijing policies have also had a far-reaching impact, leading Apple shares to drop by 2.6% as reports of harsh COVID-19 restrictions indicated that the production of iPhone Pro devices would see a noticeable shortfall. Analysts agree that China’s COVID policy has had a heavy impact on Apple, and could potentially cause massive iPhone shortages, which could take off anywhere between 5% to 10% of units in the quarter.
