Caption
Close
TOKYO (AP) — Global shares were mostly higher Thursday though Japan’s benchmark skidded as the dollar held steady ahead of meetings between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and President Donald Trump.
KEEPING SCORE: Britain’s FTSE 100 inched 0.1 percent higher to 7,195.86 and Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 percent at 11,570.31. The CAC 40 of France climbed 0.4 percent to 4,785.55. Wall Street was headed for a tepid start, with both Dow and S&P futures almost unchanged.
ABE-TRUMP SUMMIT MEETING: Trump’s complaints over trade and currency rates worry many in Japan Inc. and Abe hopes to sell him on a job creation and investment package when they meet this week. With Japan’s largest export market at stake, investors are wary of big manufacturers’ shares.
ANALYST’S VIEWPOINT: “The political landscape still dominates sentiment as the Trump administration takes shape and France gears up for an election,” Alex Furber of CMC Markets said in a commentary. “Tonight’s U.S. session may be cautious ahead of key data from China tomorrow morning, followed by U.S. consumer sentiment in the evening.”
ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock index lost 0.5 percent to 18,907.67 but most other benchmarks were higher. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 0.2 percent to 23,525.14 and the Kospi in South Korea was almost flat at 2,065.88. The Shanghai Composite index climbed 0.5 percent to 3,183.18 and Australia’s S&P ASX/200 rose 0.2 percent 5,664.60, while shares in Southeast Asia were mostly higher.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 39 cents to $52.73 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It rose 17 cents, or 0.3 percent, to close at $52.34 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, the benchmark for international oil prices, added 51 cents to $55.63 a barrel. It climbed 7 cents, or 0.1 percent, to close at $55.12 a barrel in London.
CURRENCIES: The dollar rose to 112.26 yen from 111.98 yen on Wednesday. The euro strengthened to $1.0701 from $1.0688.
Our editors found this article on this site using Google and regenerated it for our readers.
