Article by ForexTime
Markets were up in Asia on Friday after reacting to comments by the European Central Bank president Mario Draghi who suggested the possibility of additional stimulus measures by the end of the year when speaking at a press conference on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was up 1.1 per cent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 1.7 per cent and Japan’s Nikkei 225 was up 2.2 per cent. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite was flat but the Shenzhen Composite was up 1 per cent.
At the ECB’s monetary policy update on Thursday Mr Draghi threw markets a lifeline by saying that, as stress in emerging markets and possible market volatility posed downside risks to growth, the central bank would examine its €60bn-a-month asset-purchase programme in December and would not rule out an interest rate cut.
In currencies, the yen was flat at 120.71 against the US dollar, having fallen 0.6 per cent overnight. The Aussie dollar was flat at $0.7230.
The euro bias was broadly down post-Draghi. EUR/USD fell to 1.1072 in Asia before bouncing to 1.1120. The New York low was 1.1100.
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In commodities, Brent Crude was up 0.8 per cent to $48.45 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate was up 0.4 per cent to $45.57. Gold rose 0.2 per cent at $1,168.36 an ounce.
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