Asia Stocks Rise on China Support, Oil Pares Gains: Markets Wrap

(Bloomberg) — Stocks in Asia advanced after China announced more measures to support the country’s slumping equity market and the property sector.

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Property shares outperformed in Hong Kong after the southern metropolis of Guangzhou eased home-buying restrictions. China’s securities regulator said over the weekend it will halt the lending of certain shares for short selling from Monday. The measures follow a slide in the nation’s stocks, with the MSCI China Index having tumbled about 60% from a February 2021 peak.

“The very poor sentiment leading to this could potentially open the door for some technical rebound,” said Homin Lee, a senior macro strategist at Lombard Odier, speaking on Bloomberg Television. “We’re slightly more cautious because what’s really needed is a change in the inflation outlook for the country and the overall sentiment in the private sector.”

Mainland China shares failed to match gains in their Hong Kong peers, amid concern over the Biden administration’s proposal requiring US cloud firms to actively reveal foreign clients developing AI applications. The proposal — scheduled for release Monday — risks adding to tensions between Washington and Beijing after some US lawmakers last week proposed legislation targeting Chinese biotech companies.

Shares of China Evergrande Group were suspended after dropping nearly 21% as a Hong Kong court ordered the company to be liquidated.

Japanese equities rose, with energy producers bolstered by the gains in oil. Contracts for US stocks were little changed as investors weighed risks from the Middle East conflicts at the start of a busy week for the global policy outlook.

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Both Brent and West Texas Intermediate crude trimmed their advance after rising to their highest levels since November in intraday trading. The US said Iranian-backed militants killed three service members, with US President Joe Biden pledging to retaliate. Oil had also climbed on Friday after Houthi rebels attacked a vessel carrying Russian fuel.

The dollar and Treasuries were both little changed in Asia. Mixed US economic Friday data spurred concerns the Federal Reserve will signal patience about the pace of interest-rate cuts when it announces its next policy decision on Wednesday.

This week also brings a slew of key data, from European GDP on Tuesday, to China PMI and Australian inflation on Wednesday, then European inflation and a Bank of England policy decision on Thursday.

“We think the Fed is likely to reiterate its data-dependent stance and caution that it is willing to exercise patience,” analysts at ANZ Bank Ltd., including Miles Workman, wrote in a report. “The Fed will be cautious about any reacceleration of inflation pressures from above-trend growth and the resilient labor market.”

Key events this week:

• Australia retail sales, Tuesday

• Eurozone economic confidence, GDP, consumer confidence, Tuesday

• European Central Bank board members Boris Vujcic and Philip Lane speak, Tuesday

• US Conf. Board consumer confidence, Tuesday

• Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc. to report earnings, Tuesday

• Australia CPI, Wednesday

• Japan industrial production, retail sales, Wednesday

• China non-manufacturing PMI, manufacturing PMI, Wednesday

• France CPI, Wednesday

• Germany CPI, unemployment, Wednesday

• ECB chief economist Philip Lane speaks, Wednesday

• Fed rate decision, US employment cost index, Wednesday

• Boeing Co. announces earnings, Wednesday

• US Treasury quarterly refunding, in which officials to announce plans for auctions of 3-year notes, 10-year notes and 30-year bonds and other borrowing plans, Wednesday

• Japan PMI, Thursday

• China Caixin manufacturing PMI, Thursday

• Eurozone S&P Global Manufacturing PMI, CPI, unemployment, Thursday

• Bank of England rate decision, Thursday

• ECB Governing Council member Mario Centeno speaks, Thursday

• US ISM Manufacturing, initial jobless claims, Thursday

• Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. to report earnings, Thursday

• German lawmakers hold final votes on revised 2024 federal budget, Friday

• ECB Governing Council Member Mario Centeno speaks, Friday

• US employment report, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, factory orders, Friday

Stocks

• S&P 500 futures were little changed as of 12:03 p.m. Tokyo time. The S&P 500 was little changed on Friday

• Nasdaq 100 futures were little changed. The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%

• Japan’s Topix rose 1.3%

• Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.3%

• Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.4%

• The Shanghai Composite was little changed

Currencies

• The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed

• The euro was little changed at $1.0845

• The Japanese yen was little changed at 148.14 per dollar

• The offshore yuan was little changed at 7.1920 per dollar

• The Australian dollar rose 0.2% to $0.6590

Cryptocurrencies

• Bitcoin rose 0.7% to…