Asian shares advance after China cuts interest rates to boost economy

The stock prices of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. (CATL) is displayed at the listing ceremony in Hong Kong on May 20. (AP)

BEIJING, May 20, (AP): Asian shares rallied Tuesday after China cut key interest rates to help fend off an economic malaise worsened by trade friction with Washington. Shares in China’s CATL, the world’s largest maker of electric batteries, jumped 17.2% in its Hong Kong trading debut after it raised about $4.6 billion in the world’s largest IPO this year.

Its shares traded in Shenzhen, mainland China’s smaller share market after Shanghai, gained 1.2% after dipping earlier in the day. The Reserve Bank of Austalia reduced its benchmark interest rate by a quarter percentage for a second time this year, to 3.85%, judging inflation to be within its target range. The earlier reduction, in February, was Australia’s first rate cut since October 2020.

The future for the S&P 500 lost 0.4% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2% lower. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX edged 0.1% higher to 23,954.16 while the CAC 40 in Paris climbed 0.2% to 7,897.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,723.97. China’s central bank made its first cut to its loan prime rates in seven months in a move welcomed by investors eager for more stimulus as the world’s second largest economy feels the pinch of Trump’s higher tariffs.

The People’s Bank of China cut the one-year loan prime rate, the reference rate for pricing all new loans and outstanding floating rate loans, to 3.00% from 3.1%. It cut the 5-year loan prime rate to 3.5% from 3.6%. With China’s chief concern being deflation due to slack demand rather than inflation, economists have been expecting such a move.

Data reported Monday showed the economy under pressure from Trump’s trade war, with retail sales and factory output slowing and property investment continuing to fall. Tuesday’s cuts probably won’t be the last this year, Zichun Huang of Capital Economics said in a report. “But modest rate cuts alone are unlikely to meaningfully boost loan demand or wider economic activity,” Huang said. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.4% to 23,659.70 early Tuesday, while the Shanghai Composite index advanced 0.4% to 3,380.48.