European and Asian stocks rose on Thursday after Chinese authorities cut key lending rates to protect the country’s economy from the spread of the coronavirus.

The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.2% and Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.3%.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rises more than 3% in response to China reduce Its one- and five-year loan prime rates, a move analysts say will boost mortgage lending and create easier financial conditions for small businesses.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed up 1.1 percent.

“We expect these rate cuts to boost [China’s] GDP, because at least SMEs have lower borrowing costs,” Iris Pang, chief Greater China economist at ING, said in a note to clients.

But Pang added that the move “should be interpreted as offsetting the negative impact of Covid-19” rather than encouraging analysts to raise their growth forecasts for China.

China’s economic growth rate slowest speed A year-and-a-half in the final quarter of 2021, in part because of a strict policy to eliminate all coronavirus cases, prompted authorities to lock down some major cities and raised concerns about the health of their export industries.

Futures markets signaled a higher open on Wall Street, with the S&P 500 contract up 0.5% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 contract up 0.7%.

U.S. markets volatile Wednesday, Nasdaq Composite Close in correction territory, as investors worried about the impact of the Federal Reserve’s swift end to its massive emergency stimulus program after the U.S. economy improved and inflation soared.

In bond markets, Treasury prices continued to fall as traders dumped fixed-income securities ahead of the Federal Reserve’s monthly meeting next week.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, which is inversely proportional to prices and supports global borrowing costs and equity valuations, rose 0.02 percentage points to 1.85%. The two-year yield, which tracks monetary policy expectations, also rose to 1.05%.

Futures markets have priced in about four rate hikes by the Fed this year, after the Fed capped borrowing costs near zero since March 2020, bringing its main funds rate above 1% by December.

The Bank of England is widely expected to raise rates by 25 basis points at its meeting in two weeks’ time. Wednesday, Data Display UK inflation hit a 30-year high of 5.4% in December, driven by a general rise in the cost of goods and services.

Sterling rose 0.2% against the dollar to buy $1.363 and was steady against the euro to buy 1.199 euros. The dollar index, which measures the pound against six other currencies, was down less than 0.2%.

Brent crude, the oil benchmark, fell 0.6% to $87.87 a barrel, but remained near its highest level since 2014.