Asian Markets Rise On US Easing Hopes

By Bhaskar Prasad | September 13 2012 12:07 AM

Most of the Asian markets made gains Thursday as investors remained hopeful waiting for the policymakers in the U.S. to announce monetary easing measures to boost the global economy and rejuvenate the economic growth momentum.

REUTERS

A woman walks past a stock quotation board outside a brokerage in Tokyo February 14, 2012. The Bank of Japan surprised markets by loosening monetary policy further, boosting its asset buying and lending scheme to add more liquidity as it bowed to political pressure for bolder action to beat deflation and support the economy.

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The Chinese Shanghai Composite fell 0.47 percent or 9.91 points to 2116.64. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.08 percent or 15.67 points to 20091.06. Among the major gainers were China Resources Land Ltd (1.94 percent) and China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd (1.37 percent).

South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index dropped 0.01 percent or 0.23 points to 1949.80. Shares of Samsung Electronics Co Ltd rose 0.39 percent and those of LG Electronics Inc advanced 0.83 percent.

Japan's Nikkei Stock Average was up 0.46 percent or 41.43 points to 9001.39. Among the major gainers were Kansai Electric Power Co (8.25 percent), Alps Electric Co Ltd (5.30 percent) and Chubu Electric Power Co (3.64 percent).

India's BSE Sensex rose 0.13 percent or 23.92 points to 1802395. Among the major gainers were ING Vysya Bank (3.06 percent), Dish TV India Ltd (2.21 percent) and Eicher Motors (1.95 percent).

Investor confidence was lifted amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve would announce the monetary easing measures Thursday at the conclusion of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting. The weak jobs report presented last week by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to put additional pressure on the Fed to announce another round of quantitative easing measures in September.

Last month, despite acknowledging the evident slowdown in the U.S. economic growth, the Federal Reserve declined to take any additional action at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting to revive the economic growth momentum. However, the Fed offered a hint that it might be prepared to do more at the next meeting in September.

During his speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium August 31, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke indicated that unconventional monetary policy worked and that the economy needed more of it. Investors took it as a positive sign that the Fed would announce quantitative easing measures soon.