Stimulus Hopes Boost Chinese Stock Markets

Expectations of new stimuli for the economy from the rulers in Beijing next week are driving up leading indexes on the stock exchanges in China, in the initial hours of trading on Friday.

The composite indexes in Shanghai and Shenzhen are up by 1.2 and 1.5 percent, respectively. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index is up 1.6 percent.

In Japan and South Korea, the trend is the opposite. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index is down 0.8 percent and the broader Topix is down 0.6 percent.

In South Korea, the Kospi index is down 0.7 percent.