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China's stimulus-led stock rally pulls Asia greater; oil falls

Asian stocks bucked the international trend to extend a Chinaled rally on Thursday, fuelled by persistent optimism over the nation's aggressive stimulus bundle and news that more support could be in the works.

Oil prices reversed early gains to trade lower on a report that Saudi Arabia is preparing to desert its unofficial price target of $100 a barrel for crude as it prepares to increase output.

Brent crude futures fell 0.88% to $72.81 a barrel, while U.S. unrefined shed 0.9% to $69.06 per barrel.

In the wider market, equities in Asia got an extra boost on Thursday after China's leaders promised to support the struggling economy through forceful rates of interest cuts and modifications to financial and financial policies, among other things.

The news came just hours after a report that said Beijing is considering injecting up to 1 trillion yuan ($ 142.39 billion) of capital into its biggest state banks.

Chinese stocks extended their gains on the back of the announcement, with the CSI300 blue-chip index last up 1.9%. The Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.62%.

The CSI mainland real estate index leapt 5%,. as Beijing also stated it would make efforts to pull the. beleaguered real estate sector out of its downturn.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index increased 3%, while the Hang. Seng Mainland Characteristic Index rose 9%.

That moved MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares. outside Japan to an over two-year high, with the. index last up 1.5%. Japan's Nikkei similarly rode the. wave of purchasing and gained 2.5%.

Futures pointed to a strong opening in Europe, with. EUROSTOXX 50 adding 0.67%. FTSE futures gained. 0.43%.

S&P 500 futures added 0.55%, while Nasdaq futures. leapt 1%.

RATES OUTLOOK

Investors likewise had their eye on a raft of speeches from. Federal Reserve policymakers later on in the day, consisting of remarks. from Chair Jerome Powell, which could provide additional clues on. the U.S. rate outlook.

The release of the core personal usage expenses. ( PCE) cost index - the Fed's favored measure of inflation -. is likewise due on Friday.

I do not believe the response will be extreme, however the. instructions will exist, stated Jeff Ng, head of Asia macro. method at SMBC, referring to Friday's data release. If let's. say costs are sticky, then perhaps that will a little dampen. expectations for a 50-basis-point (rate cut).

Markets are now pricing in an approximately 62% opportunity of a 50bp. cut at the Fed's November policy conference and see an overall of. 77bps worth of cuts by the year end.

Moving expectations of how aggressive the Fed would alleviate. rates this year and next have in turn kept the dollar largely. rangebound over the past month.

In currencies, the Australian and New Zealand dollars drew. additional assistance from the latest news out of China, with the. Aussie acquiring 0.5% to $0.6856.

The kiwi was last 0.19% higher at $0.6273.

The yuan extended its gains and hovered near a 16-month high. in both the onshore and overseas markets.

The onshore system was last 0.2% higher at 7.0182. per dollar, while its overseas counterpart tacked on. 0.3% to 7.0118 per dollar.

While rate cuts need to weigh on the RMB, this may be balanced out. by equity inflows, said DBS experts in a note.

Still, China's financial outlook remains delicate, and. continual RMB gains are appropriate only if local currencies. continue their gratitude versus the USD.

Elsewhere, spot gold rose 0.18% to $2,660.93 an. ounce, having scaled a record high on Wednesday.

(source: Reuters)