Asian markets: China Shanghai Composite gains as Singapore eases currency policy

All Asian stock market indices were trading in the green on Thursday, 14 April, with China's Shanghai Composite Index up 0.14% at 3,070.93 at 6.20am GMT. The gains across the Asian stocks also marked their highest levels in more than four months. This followed a positive close overnight on the Wall Street amid gains in financial stocks.

Rodrigo Catril, a currency strategist at the National Australia Bank said, "Bank stocks have led the surge in equity markets [overnight] and most commodities have also enjoyed some gains, despite a pullback in oil prices."

Adding to the positive investor sentiment was the Monetary Authority of Singapore easing its currency policy. Singapore's central bank shifted to a "neutral" policy that would not allow its local currency to appreciate, as opposed to a previous regime in which it sought a "modest and gradual" rise.

Singapore uses exchange rates instead of interest rates to guide policy. The move spurred investor's hopes that more central banks would ease their respective monetary policies in the coming months.

Indices in the rest of Asia traded as follows on 14 April at 6.31am GMT:

Meanwhile, on 13 April, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 17,908.28, up 1.06%, while the FTSE 100 closed higher by 1.93% at 6,362.89.

Among commodities, oil prices declined ahead of the meeting between oil producing nations, scheduled for 17 April to discuss a potential output freeze to boost prices. Goldman Sachs recently warned that this meeting would fail to deliver a "bullish surprise" for oil prices.

On 14 April, WTI crude was down 1.27% at $41.23 (£29.20,€36.62) a barrel, while Brent was also trading lower by 1.27%, at $43.62 a barrel.