Bank results boost Wall St, China plan leaves questions

By Lewis Krauskopf

(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.

As the trading week begins in Asia, Chinese stocks are coming off several days of retrenchment while U.S. equities keep churning higher.

Wall Street's main indexes ended with gains on Friday. The benchmark S&P 500 stood at record-high levels after logging its fifth-straight week of gains.

JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo shares jumped after both major banks beat profit estimates, a bullish kick-off for corporate America's third-quarter reporting season. The two lenders also touted resiliency of the U.S. consumer, which will be in focus in the coming week of earnings and retail sales data.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 0.5% on the day.

Asian markets were sure to key off of Beijing's pledge on Saturday to "significantly increase" debt to revive its sputtering economy, but left investors guessing on the overall size of the stimulus package.

China's yuan firmed to 7.0669 per dollar by late Friday as markets looked ahead to the release of the update to previously announced measures that had not solidified confidence that they would stimulate its economy.

Finance Minister Lan Foan told a press conference China's government will help local governments tackle their debt problems, offer subsidies to people with low incomes, support the property market and replenish state banks' capital, among other measures.

The omission of a dollar figure may prolong investors' nervous wait for a clearer policy roadmap until the next meeting of China's legislature, a date for which has yet to be announced.

The fresh stimulus details come after Chinese stocks slumped on Friday, with the blue-chip CSI300 index closing down 2.8%. For the week, the CSI300 fell by 3.3%.

But the index remains up more than 20% over the past month, lifted by stimulus news.

The trajectory of interest rate moves by central banks continues to be in focus globally. South Korea's central bank cut rates for the first time since mid-2020 on Friday and flagged room to reduce further.

In the U.S., market expectations coalesced around a view that the Fed will make a modest 25 basis-point cut at its next meeting in November. U.S. producer prices were unchanged in September, according to data on Friday, a day after a report showed consumer prices rose a bit above expectations in September.

Oil prices settled lower on Friday but rose for the second straight week. Traders were grappling with potential supply disruptions from the storms in the U.S. southeast and tensions in the Middle East.

Here are key developments that could provide more direction to markets on Monday:

- Singapore GDP (Q3)

- India CPI (Sept)

- China import/exports (Sept)