Investing.com - Asia markets broadly rallied Monday after China's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate after the market hours on Friday.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 1.9% and in Shanghai, the Shanghai Composite Stock Market Index rose 1.1%.
Real estate developers were the biggest beneficiaries to China's surprise rate cut. Real estate names jumped on average 2.7%.
Heavily leveraged developers Agile Property (HK:3383) and Guangzhou R&F Properties-H (HK:2777) both shot up more than 10%.
Last week, China's move to loosen monetary policy coupled with the European Central Bank's hints at taking similar steps to stimulate its economy sent U.S. stocks rising on Friday.
The Dow 30 rose 0.51%, the S&P 500 index rose 0.52%, while the Nasdaq Composite index rose 0.24%.
The ECB's current stimulus program includes purchases of asset-backed securities and covered bonds, though markets are keeping a close eye out for plans to announce purchases of government debt, a stimulus tool known as quantitative easing that sends stocks rising as a side effect.
Also supporting the dollar was news that China cut its benchmark one-year deposit rate by 25 basis points to 2.75% and trimmed its one-year lending rate by 40 basis points to 5.6% to spur recovery.
Still, gains were muted at times on concerns that headwinds facing European and Asian economies may slow business among U.S. companies and their peers overseas.
In the week ahead, the U.S. is to release a string of economic reports on Wednesday due to Thursday’s Thanksgiving holiday, including a look at unemployment claims and durable goods orders.