A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – Wall Street was closed on Thursday for the Thanksgiving public holiday.
LONDON – European stock markets have risen solidly for a second day running following gains across Asia.
Indices had rebounded Wednesday on receding worries about Russian-Turkish tensions, while US gains were muted following a stream of economic data ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday with Wall Street closed.
Strong advances in London, Paris and Frankfurt marked a welcome shift from Tuesday’s pullback in the wake of the shooting down of a Russian warplane by Turkey on the Syrian border.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index ended 0.88 per cent higher compared with Wednesday’s close.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 index shot up 1.35 per cent and the Paris the CAC 40 won 1.08 per cent.
“With the US on holiday and a rate hike priced in to the market for next month, attention lies squarely on the eurozone as investors debate how effective the next round of anticipated monetary easing will be,” said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at stockbroker Interactive Investor.
Speculation about whether the European Central Bank would further boost its massive stimulus program increased after the ECB reported that during October, loans to the private sector rose 1.0 per cent from a year ago, compared with a growth of 0.6 per cent recorded in September.
Some analysts saw it as a sign that the monetary stimulus is working, but Capital Economics analyst Jack Allen said the pace of growth in private sector loans remained slow and did not suggest a strong economic pick-up.
“All of this is likely to have strengthened ECB policymakers’ conviction that more policy stimulus is needed,” Allen said, predicting a further rate cut and an expansion of the asset purchase program.
HONG KONG – Chinese energy firms advanced following the latest moves to reform the country’s bloated state-owned enterprises, but the gains were unable to help Hong Kong and Shanghai keep up with an Asia-wide market rally.
Another broadly upbeat batch of data on the US economy provided some support on regional trading floors, while tensions over Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian fighter jet also eased slightly.
PetroChina, the biggest energy producer, said it would sell its stake in a pipeline company for as much as $US2.4 billion ($A3.31 billion) and transfer assets to boost the commercial business of its Kunlun Energy unit.
However, with afternoon bargain-buying kicking in on trading floors in Hong Kong and Shanghai, PetroChina pared the morning’s big gains. It was up 0.4 per cent in Hong Kong but ended slightly lower in Shanghai.
Despite the early promise Shanghai ended lower after a two-day advance, with the energy rally unable to soothe investors ahead of Monday’s restart of initial public offerings they fear will divert cash from existing stocks.
The region’s other markets climbed on Thursday, with Tokyo ending up 0.5 per cent, Seoul 1.1 per cent higher and Sydney adding 0.3 per cent.
WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX 50 rose 18.76 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6087.9.
