A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – US stocks have ended mixed, with gains in telecommunications and consumer staples helping make up for a tumble in Apple to a two-year low.
The S&P 500 and Dow Jones on Thursday swerved between gains and losses before ending virtually flat.
Up 0.90 per cent, Microsoft was the largest upward force in the S&P 500.
Apple Inc, a mainstay in many portfolios, was the heaviest drag on the three major indexes, slumping 2.35 per cent to $US90.34 ($A122.43), its lowest since June 2014, as worries festered about slowing demand for iPhones.
A rally in the S&P 500 from its February lows petered out in the last two weeks amid underwhelming corporate reports and economic data that clouded the path of interest rate increases this year.
The index is now up about 1 per cent in 2016.
On Thursday, two US Federal Reserve officials said the central bank should raise rates if data points to an improving economy.
“I don’t see any conviction on the part of buyers or sellers at this point,” said Warren West, principal at Greentree Brokerage Services in Philadelphia. “It’s a slow, grinding economy, so you’re going to get slow, grinding stocks.”
The Dow Jones industrial average finished 0.05 per cent higher at 17,720.5 points and the S&P 500 ended down 0.02 per cent at 2,064.11.
Pinched by Apple’s drop, the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.49 per cent to 4,737.33.
First-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies have mostly beaten analysts’ expectations, but are estimated to have fallen 5.4 per cent from a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data.
LONDON – European shares followed Asian stocks lower, hit by sharp falls on Wall Street the previous day and some disappointing earnings updates.
Germany’s Dax index fell by 0.4 per cent, while Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.5 per cent.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 0.55 per cent,
having risen by as much as 0.9 per cent earlier in the session on the back of gains in crude oil prices, which later turned lower.
Bayer fell 4.8 per cent after Bloomberg reported
the German group was exploring a bid for Monsanto.
BASF fell 2.1 per cent after financial news website Street Insider reported it was also looking at a Monsanto acquisition.
Aegon was the worst-performing stock in the
region. The Dutch insurer slumped 11.4 per cent after reporting a smaller than expected first-quarter underlying pre tax profit of 462 million euros.
Credit Agricole fell 4.9 per cent after the French
bank reported a 71 per cent fall in quarterly net income, while
Anthilia Capital Partners’ Chief Investment Officer, Andrea Cuturi, said there was no particular catalyst driving the market on Thursday, adding that the earnings season in Europe had been disappointing though it might have already been priced in.
HONG KONG – Japan’s Nikkei stock index erased early losses and ended up 0.41 per cent as the yen fell against the dollar.
The Nikkei 225 gained 67.33 points to 16,646.34.
China’s Hang Seng lost 139.83 points, or 0.70 per cent, to 19,915.46 while Shanghai was flat at 2,835.86.
The US dollar strengthened 0.3 per cent against the yen after an academic seen to be close to Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said the BOJ was likely to expand its monetary stimulus soon.
Takatoshi Ito, a former senior finance ministry official, said the BOJ, which introduced negative rates earlier this year, could act in June or July.
This follows a series of warnings from Japanese Finance Minister Taro Aso that Tokyo would intervene to curb any excessive one-sided gains in the yen.
“With policy easing speculation gaining ground and the Finance Minister talking down the yen, it is clear they do not want a stronger currency,” said Niels Christensen, FX strategist at Nordea.
The yen was last at 108.75 to the US dollar, having touched an 18-month high of 105.55 on May 3.
WELLINGTON – The S&P/NZX50 Index dropped 21.17 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 6,923.17.
