LONDON: European and Asian stocks climbed on Tuesday and oil prices rallied further as China slashed the quarantine time for visitors, fuelling hopes of recovery for the world’s second largest economy.

But US equities were hit by another disappointing economic sentiment indicator, reviving investor concerns about the impact of a likely recession.

The news from China came as Beijing and Shanghai appeared to have contained a Covid outbreak that had forced officials to impose lockdowns that compounded global supply chain snarls, further pushing up inflation.

Authorities said inbound travellers would have to quarantine for only 10 days instead of three weeks.

The news boosted share prices, already striving to rebound from recent sharp losses triggered by fears of a global recession.

Asian markets closed higher, with both Hong Kong and Shanghai rising 0.9pc.

At the same time, G7 leaders meeting in Germany condemned China’s “non-transparent and market-distorting” international trade practices in an end-of-summit statement that hit out directly at Beijing for the first time.

Traders also digested comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde, who said the ECB would go “as far as necessary” to fight inflation that is set to remain “undesirably high”.

Paris rose 0.6 percent and Frankfurt added 0.4 percent. London climbed 0.9 percent.

Global equity markets have been recovering ground as investors believe central banks could decide to raise interest rates by more modest amounts than previously thought.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2022