Mixed Asian stock exchanges, with the Nikkei 225 index of the Tokyo stock exchange which closed in plaster, with a variation of + 0.02%, at 27,626.51 points. The Shanghai stock exchange is up by around 1%, while Hong Kong is down by around 0.40%. Seoul rises by 0.19%, Sidney falls by 0.38%.
Among the main market movers, the Australian central bank’s announcement of a new rate hike and the cut in foreign exchange reserves of Chinese banks, decided by the Chinese central bank PBOC yesterday.
The PBOC (People’s Bank of China), has announced in fact that it will cut the ratio of foreign exchange reserves that it requires banks to hold (the so-called RRR ratio), in order to strengthen the ability of institutions to use the reserves themselves.
As of September 15, the ratio of RRR reserves will be cut in China from 8% to 6%. The move by the central bank is explained by the intention to put a stop to the depreciation of the Chinese yuan currency which, since the beginning of the year, has slipped by 8% against the dollar, falling to the minimum of the last two years.
The objective of the PBOC is therefore, more generally, to prevent the flight of capital from China, which could be caused precisely by the weakening of the exchange rate of the yuan against the dollar.
Focus in the Asia Pacific area also on the announcement of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA – central bank of Australia), which today raised the reference interest rates by 50 basis points for the fourth consecutive time, taking them to 2 , 35%.
This is the fifth consecutive monetary tightening since May, when the Australian central bank started the rate hike path, to put a stop to inflation.
The US futures trend is positive, anticipating an upward start for Wall Street, which reopens today after the long weekend of the United States Labor Day celebrations (Labor Day is celebrated in the US on the first Monday of September).