Some Asian markets rebounded yesterday, while European stocks rallied in early trading as central banks made new multi-billion dollar cash injections in a bid to steady global markets' fears of a credit crunch
The Nikkei 225, the benchmark for the Tokyo Stock Exchange, edged up 0.2 percent to 16,800.05, recouping Friday's drop as investors bought back into stocks with strong earnings.
Yutaka Miura, manager at Shinko Securities, said gains yesterday weren't expected to be very big, and most investors were waiting to see the US markets later in the day.
PHOTO: AP
"This was mainly a technical rebound from Friday," he said.
South Korea's benchmark stock index stabilized following a 4.2 percent, or 80.19 point, decline on Friday, its third worst point drop ever.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index rose 20.77 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 1,849.26 yesterday. South Korea said that the impact from the US subprime loan crisis on the country was limited, and vowed to deal with any credit squeeze by adding cash to the financial system if needed. The country's banks and insurers have invested US$850 million in the US subprime mortgage loan sector, the finance ministry said.
In Tokyo, the Bank of Japan injected ?600 billion (US$5 billion) into money markets yesterday to try to bring more stability to the markets.
Malaysia's central bank said it was prepared to step in with funds to keep commercial banks lending to one another at normal rates, but it had no specific plans to do so.
Australia's interbank market showed no signs of stress, with the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) injecting A$1.52 billion (US$1.3 billion) as part of its daily money market operation yesterday, slightly less than average as there were still funds available from Friday's operation.
The European Central Bank (ECB), the US Federal Reserve and other central banks injected US$154 billion to their systems on Thursday and US$135.7 billion on Friday to cool a credit crunch.
Malaysia's central bank Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz said yesterday that the region has "high levels of liquidity." Elsewhere in Asia, policy makers also insisted there is enough money in the banking system to warrant them staying out.
"Asia is still full of liquidity," said Tomo Kinoshita, chief Asian economist at Nomura Securities Co in Hong Kong. "It's not necessary for Asian central banks to have further accommodative monetary policy."
Some Asian share markets also made wary gains yesterday after the hammering they also took last week because of the worries over the US mortgage market.
Hong Kong share prices closed 0.45 percent higher as index heavyweight China Mobile gained on expectations that it will report strong first-half results this week.
Australia's benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index closed up 75.6 points or 1.3 percent at 6,011.6 while the broader All Ordinaries closed up 62.3 points or 1 percent at 6,027.5.
In Manila, shares fell 0.45 percent lower to close at 3,267.03 after rising early on bargain-hunting. Stocks in Jakarta and Singapore were also lower. New Zealand shares closed down 0.97 percent.
In Europe, London's FTSE 100 stood 1.39 percent higher at 6,122.10 points shortly after the opening. In Frankfurt the DAX 30 gained 0.95 percent to 7,413.30 points and the Paris CAC 40 climbed 1.19 percent to 5,513.67. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares advanced 1.06 percent to 4,205.95 points in early trade.
The ECB said the eurozone banking market was returning to normal. However, it injected 47.67 billion euros (US$65.2 billion) into the euro-zone money markets in a one-day tender yesterday to replace Friday's special three-day tender for 61.05 billion euros.
The Federal Reserve yesterday pumped US$2 billion into the US financial system just after the stock market opened, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said.
In a statement before the financial markets opened yesterday, the New York Fed said that it "stands ready to conduct additional operations later in the day as needed."
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the