Japan’s Nikkei 225 jumps nearly 2% as investors monitor regional Covid situation

SINGAPORE – Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Monday morning as investors continue to monitor the Covid situation regionally.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 rose 1.78% at the start of the session while the Topix index jumped 1.71%. South Korean Kospi also rose 0.79%.

The S & P / ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.36%.

The MSCI’s largest Asia-Pacific stock index outside of Japan traded up 0.31%.

In economic news, China’s central bank on Friday announced a 50 basis point cut in its reserve requirement ratio for all banks, as of July.

The move was intended to demonstrate that the country has “a variety of political tools to conduct monetary policy,” wrote Raymond Yeung and Zhaopeng Xing of ANZ Research in a note on Friday.

The reduction in the RRR was “almost equivalent to general easing,” said Yeung and Xing, as it is expected to release about 1,000 billion Chinese yuan ($ 154 billion) in funds.

The US dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of its peers, was at 92.154 after falling recently above 92.4.

The Japanese yen was trading at 110.21 per dollar, lower than levels seen below 110 against the greenback last week. The Australian dollar changed hands at $ 0.7488, still below levels above $ 0.755 seen last week.