Is the financial downturn over? In Shanghai, at least, the prospects are pleasing. Equities in the region advanced across the board with Shanghai among the past week’s best performers.
The FTSE Asia-Pacific index rose 4.3% during the week to 223.74, its highest level since Lehman Brothers collapsed a year ago, leaving large numbers of unknowing investors destitute.
The Shanghai Composite added 2.2% and finished the week 4.5% up at 2,989.8, a three-week high.
Strong economic figures from China included industrial output growing at a faster pace, retail sales remaining strong and new lending accelerating for the month of August.
Chinese premier Wen Jiabao told the World Economic Forum in Dalian, north-east China, that the country would not scale back its economic stimulus at this stage.
And, perhaps as a result of this statement, China’s biggest lenders rallied 4.1% on average.
The Financial Times reported that Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index hit a one-year high yesterday at 21,161.4 after climbing 4.1% over the week. And going around the region it saw mainly positive signs everywhere except, possibly, in Japan.