Asian Shares Soar as China Slashes Fundamental Mortgage Rate

Asian shares rose on Thursday following a five-day slump after China slashed its prominent mortgage rates. While the rest of the world focuses on tightening monetary policy, China has set itself on a different path by cutting its mortgage rates for the first time in two years. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index soared by over 1.4% while China’s CSI300 index surged by 0.7% on Thursday morning. The Chinese share surge has propelled MSCI’s broadest index outside Japan to rise by 0.54%.

Japan’s Nikkei inched up by 0.17% while Kospi in Seoul rose by 0.1%.

However, ING analysts contend that rising geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine can continue to spell a doom for global shares, as would the upcoming Fed-sanctioned interest rate hikes. "Markets may soon start to take into account a greater risk of a conflict flare-up between Russia and Ukraine, which is one reason why stocks may continue to sell and why Treasury yields aren't on a one-way ticket higher," they added.

Tech stocks have been negatively impacted as a result of a possible ahead-of-schedule implementation of interest rate hikes, with Nasdaq dropping by over 1%.