ForexLive Asia-Pacific FX news wrap: China shares up sharply after package to boost market

Weekend
news from China drove Chinese stocks sharply higher (before the fade
back):

• Shanghai
  Composite Index opens up over 5%
• Shenzhen
  Component Index up 5.7%
• Chinext
  Price Index up nearly 7% (tech
  heavy index)
• CSI300
  up more than 5%
• Securities
  brokerages hit limit-up across the board
• Property
  developers strong rally

The
news was of a Chinese
authorities release aimed at boosting the stock
market. Most
notable were easier margin restrictions and moves to restrict the
selling of stocks by institutions. Of course, moves to restrict the
selling of stocks hardly seems confidence inspiring but the headline
impact is clear, fewer sellers and prices jumped. Buy now, worry later.

CNH rose early, pre-empting the stock moves (FX trades much earlier than the relaxed folks on stock markets do) and has since retraced.

AUD
and NZD seemed to catch some positive sentiment from this on the
session, both rose a little, but nothing like China shares did. EUR,
GBP, CAD barely moved.

USD/JPY
ticked a little higher after comments from Bank of Japan Governor
Ueda on Saturday in Jackson Hole reiterate his commitment to loose
policy.

Asian
equity markets:

• Japan’s
  Nikkei 225 +1.7%

• China’s
  Shanghai Composite +2.4%

• Hong
  Kong’s Hang Seng +2%

• South
  Korea’s KOSPI +0.8%

• Australia’s
  S&P/ASX 200 +0.6%