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Rate-cut hopes relieve financial gloom
AFP - 1 hour 32 minutes ago
LONDON (AFP) - - Stock markets soared on Wednesday ahead of an expected rate cut in the United States as hopes rose of a similar move in Japan, but more bad economic news indicated the global crisis was far from over.
As Hungary became the latest recipient of an IMF rescue package, the US Federal Reserve was expected to try and stimulate the world's biggest economy by cutting its key lending rate at the end of a two-day meeting in Washington.
Stock markets were already savouring the prospect of a cut with Tokyo's Nikkei main index soaring 7.74 percent by the close, Australian shares up 1.3 percent after falling back from strong early gains and Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended the morning 1.4 percent up.
In European opening trade, London surged 5.59 percent and Paris won 6.51 percent, but Frankfurt dived 7.53 percent as Volkswagen shares crashed after recent bumper gains. The German market was later down 2.14 percent.
"It appears that expectations for imminent interest rate cuts by the major central banks and some signs that the credit freeze is thawing overwhelmed more bad news on economic growth," said NAB Capital analyst John Kyriakopoulos.
"Central banks around the world are now taking more decisive monetary policy action to cushion the slump in economic activity."
The Hungarian stock market meanwhile surged 8.2 percent and the currency rallied in reaction to the announcement of a 20-billion-euro (25-billion-dollar) bailout package for one of the countries worst hit by the global turmoil.
Out of the total, 12.5 billion euros has been pledged by the IMF, 6.5 billion from the European Union and a billion by the World Bank, the IMF said in a statement.
In a meeting in Paris on Tuesday , British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy both called for international intervention to stop the financial crisis from infecting eastern Europe's emerging economies.
"Our first priority at the moment is to stop the contagion (spreading) to other countries, including in eastern Europe where there are problems emerging and action has to be taken," said Brown.
Lawmakers in Ukraine, another country that has also been badly affected, were to hold an initial vote on Wednesday on an economic rescue plan sought by the IMF in exchange for a 16.5-billion-dollar loan.
Iceland, Belarus and Pakistan have also appealed for assistance from IMF.
The decision from the Fed was expected to be made at around 1815 GMT with financial markets banking on a half-point cut in the federal funds target to bring the rate to 1.0 percent, matching the lows of 2003 and 2004.
Some predicted the US central bank, which led a coordinated global rate cut earlier this month, could go even lower in an effort to jump-start lending and ease the global credit crunch.
"The Fed is hoping that low rates, along with efforts to increase liquidity, will spur greater lending and borrowing, unfreezing credit markets," said Augustine Faucher at Moody's Economy.com.
But some analysts say the move would be largely symbolic because the actual rate of overnight interbank loans is in fact well below the Fed target following extraordinary efforts to pump liquidity into a strained banking system.
The Nikkei business daily meanwhile said Japan's central bank is considering cutting its super-low interest rates by 25 basis points to 0.25 percent on Friday -- the first such move since March 2001.
Analysts said that a rate cut in Japan now seemed likely and markets would be disappointed if the BoJ does not act.
"The rise in share prices seen even in the US suggests the possibility of a sharp negative reaction if the BoJ now fails to cut rates -- a situation that could force the bank's hand," said Barclays Capital analysts.
In the latest gloomy economic news, Japan's Sony Corp. said its operating profit plunged 90 percent in the second quarter, hit by a surging yen, a weak global economy and intense price competition.
And although official figures showed industrial output rose 1.2 percent in September from the previous month, beating expectations, it followed a 3.5 percent drop in August as well as forecast falls of 2.3 percent in October and 2.2 percent in November.
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