Equities, yuan, copper climb after China announces stimulus

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) -A widely followed global stock index rose to a record high and copper prices hit their strongest level in 10 weeks on Tuesday after China unveiled stimulus measures to support its economy, while China's yuan hit a 16-month high against the U.S. dollar.

People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng announced plans to lower borrowing costs and inject more funds into the economy, as well as to ease households' mortgage repayment burden.

Pan also said China would roll out structural monetary policy tools for the first time to help stabilize capital markets.

The S&P 500 moved lower after data showed U.S. consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in September amid mounting worries over the health of the labor market. But the index was last up slightly.

Investors are looking for clues on the Federal Reserve's next move after the U.S. central bank began its latest easing cycle last week with a 50 basis point cut in interest rates.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe was last up 4.42 points, or 0.53%, at 844.47. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.65%.

Earlier, the blue-chip CSI300 index and the Shanghai Composite index surged, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index jumped to a four-month high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.81 points, or 0.01%, to 42,128.93, the S&P 500 rose 8.29 points, or 0.15%, to 5,726.88 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 78.97 points, or 0.44%, to 18,053.24.

"Between now and the time the Fed meets, we'll have a couple of jobs reports. They've told us unemployment now is the thing that's driving rate cut decisions. The soft landing is when unemployment doesn't start skyrocketing," said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners.

U.S. rate futures have priced in a 56.5% chance of another super-sized rate cut of 50 bps at the November meeting, with a 43.5% odds of the more standard 25 easing.

U.S. crude rose $1.19 to settle at $71.56 a barrel and Brent rose to $75.17 per barrel, up $1.27 on the day.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange climbed by 2.7% to $9,802 a metric ton by 1615 GMT after hitting its highest since July 15 at $9,825. China is a top metals consumer.

In other commodities, spot gold rose 1.07% to $2,656.61 an ounce.

Risk appetite improved after China's stimulus measures.

U.S. 10-year Treasury yields were little changed from the day before. The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 0.1 basis points to 3.739%, from 3.738% late on Monday.

The U.S. dollar index extended declines after the consumer confidence data.

The dollar index , which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.46% to 100.47, with the euro up 0.48% at $1.1165.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.13% to 143.42.

In a speech at a meeting with business leaders in Osaka on Tuesday, BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda said it can afford to spend time scrutinizing market and overseas economic developments in setting monetary policy.



The Australian dollar strengthened 0.67% versus the greenback to $0.6884.

The Reserve Bank of Australia held interest rates steady, as expected, and reiterated that policy needed to stay tight, in contrast to the U.S. Federal Reserve which started its easing cycle with a 50 basis point (bp) cut last week.

Source: Investing.com