Asia
Investors in the region continue to put the threat from North Korea to the back of their minds, pushing indices up to levels seen before the regional crisis ignited towards the end of summer. US markets' record finish on Friday, with the S&P 500 hitting 2,500 for the first time, helped provide momentum for Asia-Pacific stocks.
Japan’s Nikkei looks set to breach the 20,000 level soon as it closed just shy of this at 19,909.50, a rise of just over 0.5% on Friday’s finishing level.
China’s broad CSI 300 index is now at levels last seen at the end of December 2015 – the index closed up around 11 points at 3,843.14. Korea’s Kospi showed the biggest gains on the day as it rose nearly 1.5% to 2,418.21. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng wasn’t too far behind, surging 352 points to 28,159.77.
Europe
Markets in the region were broadly positive on Monday: Germany’s Dax was up around 0.5% as the country enters the final week of election campaigning ahead of Sunday’s vote. France’s CAC exchange was also higher.
Eurozone inflation for August came in on forecast, rising 0.3% month on month and 1.5% year on year. This is pushing towards the European Central Bank’s 2% target and a sign that economic growth in the currency Bloc is starting to build momentum.
The UK’s FTSE 100 was also up on Monday morning, helped by a 3% rise in military hardware maker BAE Systems (BA), which reported a new contract to supply Qatar. Today the FTSE 100 has two new constituents: NMC Health (NMC), the first Abu-Dhabi company to list in London, and housebuilder Berkeley Group (BKG).
The Bank of England governor, Mark Carney, will be addressing the International Monetary Fund at 2pm UK time, just days after the Bank left interest rates on hold.
North America
The US economic calendar this week is dominated by the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week, where the central bank is expected to leave interest rates on hold, but may give an indication whether a rate hike is likely by the end of this year. In the markets, dollar strength at the start of the week, and a flight away from safe-haven currencies such as the yen, are likely to keep a lid on US indices recent gains.
Oil futures were trading above $50 a barrel on Monday morning amid tightening supplies following shutdowns caused by Hurricanes Irma and Harvey.
Bank of Canada deputy governor will give a speech during market hours. Otherwise, economic announcements are low-key on Monday.
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