SYDNEY, NSW, Australia- Stocks in Asia went up on Tuesday after China announced it would halve quarantine from 14 days to seven days for international visitors. New arrivals will have to quarantine at home for 3 days.
The tight restrictions and lock downs in parts of the country have hampered the Asian region's largest economy, so investors welcome any form of easing.
With local infections dropping further in June and COVID curbs to ease more, we expect the Chinese economy to recover, Bank of America said in a note quoted by the Reuters news agency. The path to mending is likely to be bumpy in the coming months, given soft domestic demand and lingering COVID uncertainties, according to Bank of America.
China's Shanghai Composite gained 30.02 points or 0.89 percent to close Tuesday at 27,049. The Hang Seng win in Hong Kong was trading ahead 180 points at the time of writing.
The Australian All Ordinaries rose by 59.80 points or 0.87 percent to 6,953. China is Australia's largest export market, and in normal times provides the country with its largest number of international visitors.
The S&P NZX 50 added 20.70 points or 0.19 percent to 11,018 in New Zealand. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 climbed 178.22 points or 0.66 percent to 27,049. The U.S. dollar was little changed on foreign exchange markets during the Asian session Tuesday. The euro was close to 1.0580 at the Sydney close. The British pound fell to 1.2264. The Japanese yen was steady at 135.79. The Swiss franc fell a bit to 0.9555.
The Canadian dollar went up to 1.2842. The Australian dollar rose to 0.6942. The New Zealand dollar was a bit weaker at 0.6284.
Dow Jones Industrials fell by 62.42 points or 0.20 percent over the night on Wall Street, to 31,438. The Nasdaq Composite fell 96.97 points, or 0.83 percent, to 11,511. The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 11.62 points or 0.30 points to 3,900.