London (AFP) – Europe’s main stock markets climbed Tuesday following a largely tepid performance by Asia’s top indices as a record-long US government shutdown took a step nearer to ending. London’s top-tier FTSE 100 index led the way, reaching a fresh record high as a weakening pound boosted multi-nationals earning in dollars. An Asian rally that began Monday on shutdown hopes ran out of steam while US equity futures showed a similar picture ahead of Wall Street reopening.
“Following on from yesterday’s US shutdown-fuelled optimism, the gains seen in Europe…look to be a separate phenomenon given the weakness seen in US futures thus far,” noted Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets. Paris won solid gains during a public holiday in France, which tends to exaggerate share price movements owing to low trading volumes. Equities generally started the week on the front foot after US lawmakers reached a deal to reopen the government after more than 40 days, adding to a revival of demand for tech giants despite growing fears of an AI-fuelled bubble.
US senators passed the compromise budget measure on Monday after a group of Democrats broke with their party to side with Republicans on a bill to fund departments through January. It is hoped the bill will then pass the Republican-held House of Representatives and head to US President Donald Trump’s desk, with some suggesting the government could reopen Friday. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “we’ll be opening up our country very quickly,” adding that “the deal is very good.”
Investors had grown increasingly concerned about the impact of severe disruptions of food benefits to low-income households, and of air travel heading into the Thanksgiving holiday. The shutdown has also meant key official data on a range of things, including inflation and jobs, has not been released, leaving traders to focus on private reports for an idea about the economy. The lack of crucial data has meant the Federal Reserve has been unable to gauge properly whether or not to cut interest rates at its next meeting in December, keeping investors guessing.
Analysts increasingly expect the Bank of England to cut its main interest rate next month after official data Tuesday showed a bigger-than-expected rise to UK unemployment ahead of the Labour government’s annual budget later this month. The increase to five percent in the third quarter weighed on the pound.
**Key figures at 1145 GMT:**
– London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 9,876.61 points
– Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.6 percent at 8,105.80
– Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.1 percent at 23,981.52
– Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 50,842.93 (close)
– Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 0.2 percent at 26,696.41 (close)
– Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.4 percent at 4,002.76 (close)
– New York – Dow: UP 0.8 percent at 47,368.63 (close)
**Currency and Commodity Updates:**
– Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1573 from $1.1563 on Monday
– Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3144 from $1.3182
– Dollar/yen: UP at 154.23 yen from 154.03 yen
– Euro/pound: UP at 88.03 pence from 88.00 pence
– Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.7 percent at $64.50 per barrel
– West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.7 percent at $60.52 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
