Global stocks rally rolls on as Brexit shock eases

In London Barclays was down 0.8 per cent, Llyods 1.6 per cent and RBS by 3.0 per cent. Deutsche Bank shares slid 1.5 per cent and Santander by 1.2 per cent.

London

: European and Asian stocks pushed higher while the pound held most of its ground Thursday as markets shrugged off their Brexit shock. After wiping out on Wednesday all of its losses following the surprise vote by Britain the leave the EU, London's FTSE 100 index on Thursday pushed another 0.6 per cent higher around 1000 GMT.

Meanwhile, Paris climbed also 0.6 per cent and Frankfurt added 0.4 per cent. Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, noted that the equities rebound appears to have left banking stocks behind.

"It is here that the soft underbelly of the European economy remains, with financials under pressure again after the US subsidiaries of Deutsche Bank and Santander failed the latest Federal Reserve stress tests for the second year in succession," he said.

In London Barclays was down 0.8 per cent, Llyods 1.6 per cent and RBS by 3.0 per cent. Deutsche Bank shares slid 1.5 per cent and Santander by 1.2 per cent.

Meanwhile Asian stock markets also climbed, tracking rebounds in Europe and New York on Wednesday as markets recovered from last week's hammering. Speculation that authorities will announce monetary easing measures to offset any negative impact have also provided strong support.

Stephen Innes, a senior trader at Oanda Asia Pacific said in a note: "The global central bankers are in the background and the markets realise that the central bankers are going to stand in front of any capitulation."

Trading floors are rife with talk of fresh stimulus measures from key central banks. After a $17 billion boost by South Korea, Japan is in focus after the country's prime minister, finance minister and central bank boss held talks Wednesday.

Tokyo rose 0.1 per cent, although it ended well off its earlier highs owing to profit taking having risen about four per cent since Friday's close. Hong Kong added 1.8 per cent and Seoul closed up 0.7 per cent. Singapore and Taipei each put on more than one per cent, while Manila surged two per cent. But Shanghai closed 0.1 per cent down.Sydney climbed 1.7 per cent ahead of a neck-and-neck general election in Australia at the weekend. Pound stable

The pound also held on to most of its gains versus the dollar as other higher-yielding, riskier, currencies benefited from hope that the fallout from Friday's referendum will not be as bad as feared.

"The initial shock over the UK voting out of the EU is easing across the world," Mitsushige Akino, a Tokyo-based executive officer at Ichiyoshi Asset Management Co., told Bloomberg News.

"We've survived the event-related risk, and investors are beginning to see that the impact on the actual economy is limited. There's hope for policy measures globally, not just in Japan, so that's supporting markets."

The pound slid slightly from its New York close to $1.3445, but was considerably up from the 31-year-low of $1.3121 it touched Monday. Analysts at Moneycorp said the slide in the pound from the shock of the Brexit result appears to have stopped.

"It does not matter that there might in time be new shocks that will send it lower: this one seems to have run its course. All the known bad news has been priced into sterling," said Moneycorp analysts

However, there remains plenty of caution as Britain and its EU partners struggle to reach a divorce agreement. With Prime Minister David Cameron handing over responsibility in the autumn to an as-yet-unknown successor, European leaders are adamant that London will not win any concessions to gain access to the vast single market.

Highlighting the concerns about the impact of the Brexit vote, Singapore's United Overseas Bank said it had suspended loans to anyone wanting to buy property in London, citing "uncertainties".