BEIJING — Global stock markets rose Monday after Wall Street hit a new high and a meeting between President Donald Trump and Japan’s prime minister appeared to soothe tensions over trade and currency.
KEEPING SCORE: In early trading, France’s CAC-40 advanced 0.5 percent to 4,853.99 and Germany’s DAX gained 0.3 percent to 11,705.07. London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.1 percent to 7,267.71. On Friday, the FTSE 100 added 0.4 percent and the DAX rose 0.2 percent while the CAC 40 was flat. On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.2 percent and that for the Standard & Poor’s 500 gained 0.1 percent.
ASIA’S DAY: The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.6 percent to 3,216.84 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 0.6 percent to 23,710.99. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 percent to 19,459.15 and Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 advanced 0.7 percent to 5,760.70. Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.2 percent to 2,078.65 and India’s Sensex gained 20 points to 28,351.42. Benchmarks in New Zealand and Southeast Asia rose.
WALL STREET: A rally in small company stocks Friday helped push benchmarks to all-time highs. Miners and other raw materials companies led gains while rising oil prices gave energy companies a big boost. Strong company earnings and investor optimism over the Trump administration’s promises of tax cuts, less government regulation and other policies helped fuel the market’s gains much of the week. News that OPEC is largely adhering to a recent pact to cut crude oil production has also helped lift markets. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 0.5 percent to 20,269.37. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 0.4 percent to 2,316.10. The Nasdaq composite index added 0.3 percent to 5,734.13. The Nasdaq closed at a record high four times last week.
TRUMP WATCH: President Donald Trump helped to reassure investors by affirming Washington’s “one China” policy and appearing to back away from promises to declare Beijing and Tokyo manipulate their currencies. Trump said he had a “very warm” phone conversation with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Trump said Washington would honor its “one China” policy, which had been in question since he spoke to the leader of Taiwan after his election. Trump met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in what appeared to be a cordial set of gatherings including golf at the president’s Mar-A-Lago estate. The two leaders announced discussion of a possible bilateral trade deal, and there was no public sparring over past accusations of currency manipulation or other issues.
ANALYST’S TAKE: The Trump-Abe meeting and Trump’s “One China” commitment “could allay some of the trade concerns in Asia and set free into the market more bullish bets,” Jingyi Pan of IG said in a report. “While it remains to be hashed out, President Donald Trump’s mention of a ‘level playing field’ on currency valuation also appears to reflect an amicable turn after the U.S. president accused his visitors of currency manipulation.”
FED WATCH: Investors are awaiting a speech Thursday by Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen for possible signs of how policy might change during the Trump administration. Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said over the weekend there was “significant uncertainty” about government spending. Another board member, Daniel Tarullo, announced plans to retire, raising to three the number of empty seats Trump can fill.
CURRENCY: The dollar gained to 113.64 yen from Friday’s 113.21 yen. The euro rose to $1.0654 from $1.0642.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude fell 36 cents to $53.50 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract gained 86 cents on Friday to $53.86. Brent crude, used to price international oils, dropped 52 cents to $56.18 in London after jumping $1.07 the previous session to $56.70.
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