Asia
Markets in Asia-Pacific were mixed on Thursday as the Dow Jones and S&P 500 closed lower on Wednesday, despite the S&P marking the milestone of the longest bull run on record.
China’s CSI 300 managed a positive close amid the backdrop of new tit-for-tat tariffs imposed by the United States and China on each other’s goods.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dipped 137 points to 27,790. The index has struggled to recapture levels above 28,000 points and is revisiting values last seen a year ago – before the Hang Seng, along with other global markets broke out to multi-year highs at the start of 2018.
Japan’s Nikkei rose as the yen dipped against the dollar while the market cap-weighted Topix was largely unchanged. Japanese inflation data is due on Friday morning local time.
Europe
Stock markets across Europe were modestly higher on Thursday morning but gains were muted. European Central Bank meeting minutes are due.
The pound remains under pressure against the dollar, which is helping to support the case for large-cap UK equities, and as the UK Government begins publishing its “impact assessments” for a no-deal Brexit for various sectors – including financial services.
In midmorning trading, the FTSE 100 was up just a handful of points at 7,575,
North America
The Federal Reserve minutes published last night kept the prospect of a September interest rate rise alive. But the minutes also warned about the consequences of a protracted trade war on the global economy. Fed chair Jerome Powell speaks at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.
The dollar gained ground on Thursday on expectations of an interest rate. The South African rand was under pressure against the US dollar too as President Trump raised the possibility of sanctions against the country.
Chinese tech giant Alibaba (BABA), which is listed in New York and is counted among the BATs – Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent – reports today before the market opens. The poor results of Tencent recently will be playing on investors’ minds. But Alibaba shares are initially up in pre-market trading.
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