A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – Wall Street was on track for a third straight day of gains after a surge in oil prices fired up energy stocks.
The S&P energy sector jumped 3.24 per cent, leading the nine gainers among the 10 major sectors.
The benchmark S&P 500 index staged its best two-day gain since late August as investors picked up beaten-down shares.
Still, the index is down 7.3 per cent in 2016 due to slumping oil prices, fears of a China-led slowdown in global growth and uncertainty about central bank policies.
Brent crude was up more than 7.5 per cent after Iran voiced support for a move to freeze production by major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia and Russia.
Sentiment surrounding the repercussions of the fall in crude oil and its impact on debt-laden energy companies is likely to ease with oil prices stabilizing, said John Burke, chief executive of Burke Financial Strategies in New York.
At 1521 ET Wednesday, (0721 Thursday AEDT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 259.65 points, or 1.60 per cent, at 16,456.06.
The S&P 500 was up 30.98 points, or 1.63 per cent, at 1,926.56 and the Nasdaq Composite index was up 91.02 points, or 2.05 per cent, at 4,526.98.
LONDON – Britain’s top share index has rallied for a fourth straight session as appetite grows for underperformers in the mining sector, led by a surge in miner Glencore.
The FTSE 100 was up 2.9 per cent at 6,030.32 points at its close on Wednesday, taking gains over the last four sessions to almost 9 per cent.
Commodities and mining firm Glencore soared 16.6 per cent, touching its highest level since November, although the volatile stock has lost around two-thirds of its value since May.
Traders said the firm’s early refinancing of some of its debt was supporting the stock.
The debt had been under close watch as falling commodity prices put a strain on balance sheets.
“One of the main reasons for the relative underperformance in the mining sector and Glencore was … high debt levels and risks of more credit downgrades,” Atif Latif, director at Guardian Stockbrokers, said.
“We are pleased to see this news allowing some de-risking on the share price as balance sheet concerns have eased.”
HONG KONG – Asian shares slipped after two sessions of solid gains, while oil prices swung higher as the market reconsidered the chances of a meaningful deal to restrict supply later in the year.
The mood was still skittish – when China set a slightly lower guidance rate for its yuan, the yen and safe-haven bonds got an instant boost. As investors realised this was not some message from Beijing on devaluation, the moves quickly reversed.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan lost 0.6 per cent, reversing early gains of 0.4 per cent, as its bear market rally petering out after a 3.0 per cent rise over the previous two sessions.
The Shanghai Composite Index slid 0.3 per cent and South Korea 0.1 per cent. Japan’s Nikkei fell 1.7 per cent, but is still up more than 5 percent on the week.
“The rally itself has been extraordinary but very thin and the failure of the yen to continue on the fairly steady path of weakening we’ve seen in the past couple of days has been reflected as nervousness in the Nikkei,” said Stefan Worrall, director of Japan equity sales at Credit Suisse.
“It’s been a very volatile two weeks and nerves are still frayed despite the fact that we’re off the bottom of those extreme sessions we saw last week.”
WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX 50 Index advanced 10.2 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 6085.56.
