TOKYO (AP): - Asian shares rose Thursday (March 5), taking their cue from a surge on Wall Street as governments and central banks took more aggressive measures to fight the virus outbreak and its effects on the economy.
Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 rose 1.1% to 21,329.12. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 added 1.1% to 6,395.70. South Korea's Kospi gained 1.3% to 2,085.26. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 2.1% to 26,771.98, while the Shanghai Composite jumped 1.9% to 3,069.95. India's Sensex climbed 1.2% to 38,854.42.Shares in Chinese blue chips rose Thursday in Hong Kong, suggesting"investors' confidence was restored by the surge in US markets.
Stocks rose sharply from the get-go, led by big gains for health care stocks after Joe Biden solidified his contender status for the Democratic presidential nomination. Investors see him as more business-friendly than Bernie Sanders. The S&P 500 rose 4.2% to 3,130.12. The benchmark index has had five days in the last two weeks where it swung by more than 3%. In all of last year, it had just one.
Investors are also anticipating other central banks will follow up on the Federal Reserve’s surprise move Tuesday to slash interest rates by half a percentage point in hopes of protecting the economy from the economic fallout of the new coronavirus. Even though many investors say they know lower interest rates will not halt the spread of the virus, they want to see central banks and other authorities do what they can to lessen the damage."Monetary policy can only take us so far, but at least it’s a step, ” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset.
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