Asian equities generally inch up

On Thursday, Asian equities generally gained because China’s leaders told that more stimulus measures are scheduled. A better-than-anticipated Caixin HIS Markit October PMI data backed Chinese shares too.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping told that the Chinese cabinet needs to take further steps to resolve a current economic situation because downward pressure is rallying. The statesman’s remarks arose after Wednesday’s data revealed that in October the Asian country’s manufacturing sector managed to expand at a slower pace.

Besides this, the Caixin-IHS Markit October Purchasing Managers' index, focusing on smaller sized businesses, accounted for 50.1. Market experts had hoped the reading would recede a bit from 50.0 to 49.9 in September.

The Shenzhen Component and the Shanghai Composite rallied by respectively 0.6% and 1.9%.

Larry Kudlow, Donald Trump’s economic advisor told that there’s still a likelihood that America would slap another pack of levies on China.

The Hang Seng Index soared by 1.8% in Hong Kong. Additionally, year-on-year Standard Chartered PLC posted a 35% leap in net revenue for the third quarter as well as a 33% lift for the first nine months of this year.   

The upbeat earnings report powered the company’s equities in Hong Kong - they jumped by 1.83% coming up with an outcome of HK$55.65.  

In the third quarter, the company’s net revenue rallied to about $752 million in contrast with $557 million in the same period of the previous year. Its net revenue also grew from $1.763 billion in the first nine months of the previous year to up to $2.345 billion in 2018.   

The Nikkei 225 headed south by 0.7% in Japan. The KOSPI added 0.6% in South Korea.

Besides this, the ASX 200 ascended by 0.1% in Australia. As a matter of fact, National Australia Bank Ltd posted a 14% dive in annual cash earnings.