China stocks increased as lenders announced earnings updates. Mainland China's share market showed that investors are celebrating the stable earnings from the region's most significant listed banks. On the other hand, Australian shares and the Japanese Nikkei are down.
Asian shares were on a rise after reports claimed that a drug that treats coronavirus might have been developed,. Last Thursday, Australia's S&P 200 improved by 1.3 percent to 5,461.00, but for today, it dropped by 3.44 percent. Shares of major miner BHP decreased by more than six percent while shares in major banks such as the Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Australia and New Zealand Banking Group decreased by four percent each.
The Nikkei 225 also slipped by 3.47 percent while shares of the Tokyo Electron decreased by more than five percent. The Topix index also dropped by 1.81 percent.
Last Thursday, the trading session showed a 0.44 percent increase on the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index. It ended at 12.42 points to 2,822.44. The Shanghai Composite Index that tracks stocks on China's second exchange, on the other hand, fell by 0.1 percent ending at 1.82 points to 1,730.74, reported Business Standard. The blue-chip CSI300 index also increased by 0.46 percent and closed at 17.88 points to 3,3867.03.
The improvements were marked as results of higher profits from China's top four biggest lenders for the first quarter. The country announced that the National People's Congress (NPC) would also open a key annual session by May 22, 2020, where the Chinese government would allow the return of business to normal after months of the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic. The annual NPC was referred to as the critical political and economic meeting that may initiate the grown and budget deficit targets for the rest of the year.
Last Wednesday, the Chinese yuan also increased against the US dollar, reported Inquirer.net. It had an inline with firmer mid-point fixing imposed by the central bank. Before the market opening yesterday, the People's Bank of China already set the midpoint rate at 7.0704 per dollar, which is an increase of 0.01 percent from the previous 7.071 threshold.
In Wall Street, investors showed negative connotations as the US economy slumped by 4.8 percent for the first three months of 2020. The S&P 500 also rose by 2.7 percent extending its rally after the US stock market suffered from the adverse effects of the pandemic to its economy. The performance was referred to as its best month in the last 45 years.
The said improvements were allegedly caused by a report that claimed an experimental drug called remdesivir was found effective against the coronavirus. The study ran by the National Institutes of Health announced the effectiveness of the drug on coronavirus patients and claimed that it reduced the time of recovery.
