Hong Kong (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Asian markets are responding well and positively to news that the US Federal Reserve raised rates for the first time since June 2006, offering dollars at a rate ranging from 0.25% to 0.5%.
The announcement made yesterday by the chairman of the Fed, Janet Yellen (see photo), was seen as a positive sign of a recovery in the US economy after years of crisis and stimulus packages.
This morning the stock market in Sydney gained 1.6%; Tokyo 2.15; Seoul 0.25%; Hong Kong was up by 1.5% and Shanghai 0.83.
All of these countries - and especially Australia, Japan, Korea and China - are hoping that with the strengthening of the dollar, their own currency will weaken, facilitating their exports. In Hong Kong there are fears however that the Fed's move will lead to further increases in the price of real estate.
Also this morning, China again depreciated the yuan, to 6.4757 against the dollar. Beijing has, however, already announced that it will set aside the more or less fixed exchange rate with the US dollar (peg) to enter into the International Monetary Fund’s reserve currencies.