A roundup of trading on major world markets:
NEW YORK – Wall Street markets were closed for the Memorial Day public holiday.
PARIS – The Paris Bourse has closed lower in a low-key session, with many markets around Europe and in New York closed for public holidays.
Paris’ leading CAC 40 index ended Monday 0.50 per cent down at 5,117.17 points compared with Friday’s close, with volumes worth less than 700 million euros ($A985 million) traded.
Most of Europe’s major markets – including London and Frankfurt – remained closed during the Monday holiday, with Wall Street similarly taking Memorial Day off.
Madrid’s stock market was open, the day after voters in municipal and regional elections abandoned traditional parties to back populist protest rivals, with the Ibex-35 index closing 2.01 per cent lower at 11,322.30 points.
The CAC 40 a lost ground due to “the combination of a holiday and an empty economic calendar,” said Christopher Dembik, economist at Saxo Banque.
But though Renta 4 analyst Angel Perez said in Spain investors had reacted cooly to anti-austerity parties topping polls in Barcelona and possibly taking power in Madrid, the real reason behind Monday’s dip were hardening negotiations between Greece and its creditors over 7.2 billion euros in blocked bailout aid.
Cash-strapped Athens is resisting austerity and reform demands from creditors to free up the money, which Greece needs to finance a series of debt repayments to the International Monetary Fund.
“Today’s fall was above all due to the situation in Greece, which may not be able to honour its payments to the IMF, and is making the market a bit nervous,” said Perez, who acknowledged the spectre of major political change following Sunday’s elections “may create uncertainty in Spain for the short-term.”
HONG KONG – Asian markets have advanced, with Tokyo boosted by a weaker yen after the US Federal Reserve chief stuck to her plan to raise interest rates by year-end.
The euro suffered further losses as Greece warned it did not have enough money to service its debts next month without the rest of its bailout cash.
Tokyo closed 0.74 per cent higher on Monday, adding 149.36 points to reach a 15-year high of 20,413.77, while Sydney jumped 1.00 per cent, or 56.8 points, to 5,721.5.
Shanghai surged 3.35 per cent, or 156.20 points, to 4,813.80 as traders moved into undervalued stocks.
Hong Kong and Seoul were closed for public holidays.
Fed chief Janet Yellen said on Friday she expects to raise rates from historic lows “at some point this year”, warning that a delay could risk overheating the economy. However, she also said there were still weaknesses, including slackness in the job market despite unemployment at 5.4 per cent.
Her comments came two days after minutes of the Fed’s April policy board meeting made it clear that slow growth in recent months meant it was not expecting a rise before late July.
WELLINGTON – The New Zealand sharemarket has closed higher after Contact Energy said it would return surplus cash to shareholders.
The NZX 50 Index rose 18.964 points, or 0.3 per cent, to 5794.981 on Monday.
