World stocks gain after Yellen rate remarks
HONG KONG - World stock markets were buoyant Monday as investors cheered Fed chief Janet Yellen's comments signaling that U.S. interest rates would rise only gradually. Chinese stocks soared on hopes for more economic stimulus measures.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX gained 1.4 percent to 12,029.03 and France's CAC 40 added 0.9 percent to 5,079.57. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.7 percent to 6,900.54. Futures pointed to gains on Wall Street. S&P 500 futures were up 0.5 percent.
Asian investors were getting their first chance to react to Yellen's comments on Friday. In a speech in San Francisco, the Federal Reserve chief said the time to start raising the key U.S. interest rate could occur "sometime this year," though she said that time has yet to arrive. She said the danger associated with raising rates too fast is greater than that of acting too slowly. A too-rapid approach could cause the economy too stall, she said.
"Friday's comments from Yellen successfully managed to frame where we are in terms of U.S. monetary policy, striking the middle path that we had expected," said Michel Every, head of Asia Pacific financial market research at Rabobank. "That's a far, far more cautious, data-dependent stance towards changes in the Fed Funds rate than some of the more gung-ho rhetoric that other Fed members have been coming out with recently."
On Sunday, Zhou Xiaochuan, governor of the People's Bank of China, told an audience of central bankers at the Boao Forum that China's economy had slowed "a bit too sharply," IHS said in a commentary. That reaffirmation of concern about deflationary pressures gave a boost to hopes that the Communist Party government will introduce new stimulus measures to prevent growth slowing too sharply. China cut interest rates in November 2014 and February 2015, and the required reserve ratio for banks in February.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 closed up 0.7 percent to 19,411.40 and South Korea's Kospi gained 0.5 percent to 2,030.04. Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.5 percent to 24,855.12 and the Shanghai Composite Index in mainland China soared 2.6 percent to 3,786.57. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 lost 1.3 percent to 5,846.10. Southeast Asian benchmarks were higher while New Zealand declined.
Benchmark U.S. crude lost 83 cents to $48.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 5 percent, or $2.56, to close at $48.87 a barrel on Friday. Brent crude, a benchmark for international oils, fell 40 cents to $56.01 in London.
The dollar rose to 119.69 yen from 119.13 yen Friday. The euro weakened to $1.0851 from $1.0891.