Major Asian stock indices ended with gains today. South Korea’s Kospi index rose over 0.9 per cent, Singapore’s Strait Times index advanced more than 0.7 per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index along with Japan’s Nikkei 225, both closed over 0.6 per cent up, while China’s Shanghai Composite index inched up by 0.1 per cent.
Major European indices were also trading mixed in intra-day trade. Germany’s DAX was trading more than 1.7 per cent up and France’s CAC 40 rose over 1.2 per cent, while London’s FTSE 100 dipped over 0.7 per cent, when reports last came in. Meanwhile, the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee voted by a majority of 5 to 4 to reduce bank rate by 0.25 percentage points, to 4 per cent. This marks the central bank’s fifth rate cut in the year, bringing the cost of borrowing to the lowest level for more than two years.