A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – Wall Street is slightly lower in muted trading as a fall in materials stocks offset gains in energy shares, a day after all three major indexes recorded their best day in more than a month.
Crude prices recovered from earlier losses and were little changed from Tuesday.
A report on Wednesday showed that the US private sector added more jobs than expected in February, adding to recent upbeat data that underscored the strength in the US economy.
The report by payrolls processor ADP serves as a precursor to the more comprehensive monthly jobs report by the US Labor Department on Friday.
“We’re in a holding pattern until Friday, when we get the payrolls number,” said Jeff Kravetz, regional investment director at US Bank Wealth Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
“There’s still a lot of money out there that’s looking for a home and if we continue to get good economic data, it is going to be positive for stock markets here,” he said.
At 12:41 p.m. ET (1741 GMT), the Dow Jones industrial average was down 15.15 points, or 0.09 per cent, at 16,849.93, the S&P 500 was down 1.67 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 1,976.68 and the Nasdaq Composite index was down 12.71 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 4,676.88.
LONDON – Britain’s top equity index fell, with the market’s earlier gains fizzling out as oil prices weakened, while shares in ITV and Intertek also declined.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 index ended down 0.1 per cent at 6,147.06 points, closing lower for the first time in four days.
The FTSE is down by around two per cent since the start of 2016, and 14 per cent below an April 2015 record high.
Television and media group ITV fell 3.5 per cent, as the company’s cautious outlook about its advertising revenue offset more positive factors such as higher earnings and a special dividend payout.
“It would appear that a drop in viewing numbers on its main ITV channel has raised concerns that despite rising advertising revenues, the company is losing market share,” said CMC Markets UK chief market analyst Michael Hewson.
Intertek, which carries out tests to ensure the safety of products, also fell 4.6 per cent as its annual results underwhelmed some investors while Goldman Sachs cut its price target on the stock.
Traders said February’s unexpected dip in the UK’s construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) to a 10-month low, was also weighing on the London stock market.
“A weaker than forecast construction PMI has not helped,” said Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell.
HONG KONG – Asian stocks hit a two-month high, Japan’s and China’s main indices both rose more than four per cent, and European markets were up for the fifth day in a row, on track for their longest winning streak in five months.
Investors shrugged off further signs of weakness in global manufacturing, taking their cue instead from other indicators pointing to pockets of light amid the recent economic gloom such as US construction spending, and Australian and Swiss gross domestic product.
“Stocks are trading higher as Australian and Swiss growth figures came in better than expected. European markets have opened in the green and US stocks will certainly benefit from the global risk-on trading,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, market strategist at London Capital Group.
Investors also continued to take heart from announcements from China earlier this week of a cut in bank reserve requirements and structural reforms to the world’s economic growth engine.
Japan’s Nikkei was up four per cent, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose three per cent and China’s main bourses had their best day so far in 2016, rising more than four per cent.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.4 per cent to its highest levels since January 7, and building on gains in the previous session.
MSCI’s broadest gauge of the world’s stock markets also rose to highest level in almost two months.
The Institute for Supply Management’s (ISM) index of US factory activity, a closely watched measure of the American manufacturing sector, rose more than expected in February. It also edged up for two months in a row, appearing to have snapped its almost continuous decline since late 2014.
US construction spending rose to the highest level since October 2007 while solid GDP data from Canada and Australia and Switzerland helped.
WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX 50 Index rose 32.18 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 6,313.08.
