Asian stocks lead charge higher

Worldwide shares looked set to end the week on a high on Friday, May 22nd, after shares in Asia led the way higher on the chance of seeing further central bank stimulus. However, shares in Europe were mixed in morning trading.

The benchmark Chinese index surged to a seven-year high on Friday in its fourth day running of gains. On the week, the index rose by eight per cent to put in its best weekly performance in 2015.

Investors were increasingly believing that a month-long period of muted growth might be over, while hopes of an extra economic stimulus boost also lifted stocks.

The leading European stocks index was dragged lower by falls in Germany’s DAX (down over 0.4 per cent) and the French CAC 40 (around 0.2 per cent lower) on Friday, but looked set for its biggest gain in six weeks.

Elsewhere, the US dollar remained close to a two-week high and looked set to record its first weekly rise in six. The dollar index continues to range below the psychologically significant 100 level after rising around two per cent on the week.

The dollar’s recovery waned a little on Friday after the FOMC minutes from April’s meeting saw policy makers downplaying the chance of an interest rate rise anytime soon, with experts believing that the earliest possible could be September.

The report showed that Fed officials “thought it unlikely that the data available in June would provide sufficient confirmation that the conditions for raising the target range for the federal funds rate had been satisfied”.

In Europe, slight optimism was seen on Friday after the Greek government declared that a cash-for-reforms deal might be reached in the next ten days, which would allow Athens to meet all its payments in June.

Despite this, Greece continues to remain stalwart on key issues that have been holding back negotiations so far - such as labour reforms and pensions.