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TOKYO — Global shares were mostly higher Friday after China reported that its slowing economy showed signs of stabilizing in August.
France’s CAC 40 gained 1.5% in morning trading to 7,414.96. Germany’s DAX rose 1.1% to 15,980.43. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged up 0.9% to 7,738.95. The future for the Dow industrials was up 0.2%, while that for the S&P 500 added 0.1%.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng surged 0.8% to 18,182.89, while the Shanghai Composite index was shed 0.3% to 3,117.74.
Late Thursday, the People’s Bank of China said it would cut the reserve requirement for banks by 0.25 percentage points as of Friday, “In order to consolidate the foundation for economic recovery and maintain reasonable and sufficient liquidity.”
Further boosting sentiment, the government reported Friday that China’s industrial output rose 4.5% in August from a year earlier, up from 3.7% in July. That is seen as a sign the economy may be breaking out of its post-pandemic malaise.
Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 surged 1.1% to finish at 33,533.09. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.3% to 7,279.00. South Korea’s Kospi added 1.1% to 2,601.28.
SoftBank Group Corp., which fully owned chip designer Arm Holdings before it began trading on the Nasdaq on Thursday, rose 2.1% in Tokyo trading.
On Wall Street, the S&P 500 climbed 0.8% on Thursday for its best day in two weeks while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 1%. The Nasdaq composite added 0.8%.
Arm’s shares jumped 24.7% in their debut on Nasdaq. The strong welcome could be an encouraging signal for the IPO market, which has slowed since the stock market began tumbling early last year on fears about higher interest rates.
“The Arm IPO optimism and China’s further stimulus measures boosted sentiment across Asian stock markets,” Tina Teng, a markets analyst at CMC Markets APAC & Canada, said in a commentary.
Boosting market sentiments was one report that said U.S. shoppers spent more at retailers last month than economists expected. That reflects a remarkably resilient job market, which has withstood a steep jump in interest rates.
A separate report Thursday morning said fewer workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than expected, which implies the number of layoffs remains low.
A third report said prices getting paid at the wholesale level rose more last month than economists expected. That could be a discouraging signal for households if the higher-than-expected inflation gets passed on to shoppers at the consumer level.
To try to get inflation back down to its 2% target, the Federal Reserve has been increasing interest rates sharply since early last year.
In energy trading, benchmark U.S. crude rose 29 cents to $90.45 a barrel. Crude has been climbing for months as oil-producing countries try to support its price by curtailing their supplies. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 26 cents to $93.96 a barrel.
In currency trading, the U.S. dollar rose to 147.76 Japanese yen from 147.42 yen. The euro cost $1.0669, up from $1.0645.
