Stock market today: Asian shares gain as China eases rates to aid property industry

Asian shares advanced Tuesday, with Chinese markets logging the biggest gains after the central bank announced a slew of measures to support the economy.

Shares in Hong Kong jumped 2%. U.S. futures edged lower while oil prices gained.

Among various policies aimed at countering a prolonged downturn in the property sector, People’s Bank of China Gov. Pan Gongsheng said the reserve requirement for banks would be cut by 0.5 percentage points and that the central bank would follow up with further cuts. That would free up more money for lending.

Regulators also plan new policies to support stable development of the stock market, Pan and other senior official told reporters in Beijing.

The coordinated measures, instead of “drip-feeding piecemeal support,” are “a step in the right direction,” Julian Evans-Pritchard of Capital Economics said in a commentary.

“But it will probably be insufficient to drive a turnaround in growth unless followed up with greater fiscal support,” he said.

The Hang Seng in Hong Kong surged more than 400 points to 18,604.26, while the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.9% at 2,772.58.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index climbed 0.7% to 37,974.98, while the Kospi in Seoul was nearly unchanged at 2,602.30.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.3% to 8,126.30.

On Monday, the S&P 500 rose 0.3% to 5,718.57, edging past its record set on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1% to its own all-time high set on Friday and closed at 42,124.65. The Nasdaq composite gained 0.1% to 17,974.27.

Tesla led the way with a gain of 4.9% and clawed back all its sharp losses from earlier in the year. It had shed as 42% at one point in April, when it was cutting prices on its cars to boost tepid sales.

That helped