Monday, 14 August 2017

World shares, dollar rise after week of North Korea-driven losses

World stocks rose on Monday, attempting to recover after fears of a U.S.-North Korea nuclear standoff drove them to the biggest weekly losses of 2017, while the dollar too rose off four-month lows it had hit against the yen. 
European shares bounced after falling nearly 3 percent last week, with the pan-European STOXX 600 up 0.7 percent following on from a 0.9 percent jump in MSCI's index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS. 

Those gains were led by bounces in Australia, Hong Kong and South Korea .HSI .KS11 while MSCI's world index rose 0.2 percent .MIWD00000PUS. 

U.S. stock futures ESc1 rose 0.6 percent, suggesting a higher open later in the day.

That prompted North Korea to say it was considering plans to fire missiles at the U.S.-held Pacific island of Guam. 

Tokyo shares failed to partake in the region's gains however, slipping 1 percent to three-month lows .N225 even after data showing robust 1.1 percent second quarter growth in Japan, the sixth straight quarter of expansion. 

That was due to worries over the potential impact of the yen's recent surge against the dollar . .N225. The Japanese currency, which firmed around 1.4 percent last week, tends to benefit during times of geopolitical or financial stress as Japan is the world's biggest creditor nation. Japanese investors also repatriated cash held overseas. 

The greenback rose 0.5 percent to 109.70 yen JPY= after slipping to 108.720 on Friday, its weakest since April 20. Against a basket of currencies it firmed 0.2 percent, rising off last week's 10-day lows .DXY. 

U.S. 10-year yields US10YT=RR inched higher after falling on Friday to six-week lows following data showing that U.S. consumer prices rose just 0.1 percent last month, below economists' forecast of a 0.2 percent gain. 

Euro zone bond yields also rose, with investors interpreting the robust Japanese data as a sign that the global economy is indeed on the mend.
The yield on Germany's 10-year government bond DE10YT=TWEB, the benchmark for the euro zone, was up 4.5 bps to 0.43 percent, a move mirrored by most other euro zone debt. 

Earlier, Chinese markets were largely unfazed by a slew of activity data from China which was softer than forecast, though still largely solid. 

However, the weak Chinese data hit oil prices, with Brent crude futures LCOc1 down 35 cents lower at $51.74 a barrel. 

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