Hong Kong leads Asian stock market

The Asian stock market is steadily on the rise and is set to be even higher by the end of this week (Sunday October 4th), despite investors continuing to dump emerging market assets as their growth expectations fade. 

Hong Kong leads the way, with shares in financial and property stocks showing a 2.6 per cent increase. This was supported by a boom in the Chinese Enterprise Index, which tracks companies listed in Hong Kong.

Britain's FTSE 100 is expected to open up by 0.3 per cent, Germany's DAX to open 0.4 per cent higher, and France's CAC 40 to open 0.6 per cent up, according to financial spreadbetters.

On Wednesday, Beijing said it will cut the minimum down-payment level for first-time home buyers in many cities.

Castor Pang, head of research at Core Pacific-Yamaichi in Hong Kong, said: "Even if this might not have much impact on property prices, it shows the central government has policy intentions to boost GDP growth."

The main index rose 3.3 per cent to 9,710.98, with Mr Pang adding that this could rebound to 22,200 points in the short-term.

IT shares in Hong Kong jumped 3.4 per cent, while shares in materials climbed 3 per cent.

However, Thomson Reuters data highlights a bleak outlook for the region, with earnings growth expectations for the remainder of the year for MSCI Asia-ex Japan at their lowest levels this year.

Looking to foreign exchange markets, the dollar is leading the way against other currencies, which could determine whether the Federal Reserve raises interest rates before year-end.

The dollar was buying 119.96 yen from late US trading, while the euro was steady at $1.11760.

The dollar index, which tracks this form of currency against six rival currencies, decreased by about 0.1 per cent to 96.220.

On the other hand, US crude futures were up by about 1.1 per cent at $45.23 a barrel, despite uncertainty about whether storm Joaquin would strike the coast of New Jersey and possibly disrupt fineries there.