Stocks in Asia Pacific rose on Friday as China kept its loan prime rates unchanged.
Japanese stock markets were shuttered for a holiday. The Japanese yen traded at 109.87 per U.S. dollar after seeing levels below 108 earlier this week.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index regained 1,095.94 points, or 5.1%, to 22,805.07.
Meanwhile, developments on the ongoing global coronavirus outbreak continued to be watched, with markets seeing wild moves in recent days as investors continue to weigh the disease’s potential economic impact.
Australian stocks closed higher, with the heavily weighted financial sub-index up 3.6%. The Australian dollar was at $0.5918 after seeing an earlier low of $0.5662.
On Friday, Australia’s banks announced that loan repayments for small businesses affected by the coronavirus outbreak would be deferred for six months.
In a release announcing the small business relief package, Australian Banking Association CEO Anna Bligh said the move will apply to more than 100 billion Australian dollars ($58.8 billion U.S.) worth of existing small business loans and could put as much as eight billion Australian dollars ($4.7 billion U.S.) "back into the pockets of small businesses."
Central banks from across the globe, ranging from Australia’s Reserve Bank of Australia to the U.S. Federal Reserve, have cut interest rates and announced plans to buy bonds in recent days as authorities worldwide race to combat the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
CHINA
The CSI 300 recovered 99.74 points, or 4.3%, to 3,653.22.
China’s loan prime rates (LPR) on Friday were kept unchanged from their February levels, with both the 1-year and 5-year LPR left steady at 4.05% and 4.75%, respectively.
Following the rates release, the onshore Chinese yuan strengthened against the greenback at 7.0964 per dollar. The offshore yuan also saw gains at 7.1292 per dollar.
In other markets
In Korea, the Kospi index restocked 108.51 points, or 7.4%, to 1,566.15
In Taiwan, the Taiex recovered 552.75 points, or 6.4%, to 9,234.09
In Singapore, the Straits Times Index jumped 99.74 points, or 4.3%, to 2,410.74
In New Zealand, the NZX 50 gained 87.07 points, or 1%, to 9,196.42
In Australia, the ASX 200 climbed 33.69 points, or 0.7%, to 4,816.63
