BEIJING, DEC 26: Global stock markets were mixed Friday after Wall Street rose amid optimism that U.S.-Chinese trade relations are improving.
Frankfurt, Paris and Hong Kong gained in early trading. London and Shanghai were unchanged and Tokyo declined.
Investors welcomed U.S. President Donald Trump’s comment that an interim “Phase 1” trade deal was “getting done.” Trump said he and Chinese President Xi Jinping would hold a signing ceremony.
Traders still are waiting to see details of the agreement aimed at helping to settle a 17-month-old tariff war over China’s technology ambitions and trade surplus.
Chinese customs data this week showed November soybean imports rose in a possible boost to American farmers. Midwestern farm states were battered by Beijing’s earlier suspension of purchases of U.S. soybeans, the biggest Chinese import from the United States, in response to Trump’s tariff hikes on goods from China.
Cooperation for trade
“Broadly risk sentiment is positive,” Mizuho Bank said in a report.
In early trading, Frankfurt’s DAX rose 0.4% to 13,348.58 and France’s CAC 40 gained 0.2% to 6,043.64. London’s FTSE was off 4 points at 7,628.28.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite Index was off 2 points at 3,005.04 and Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 fell 0.4% to 23,837.72. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 1.2% to 28,202.10 and Seoul’s Kospi added 0.3% to 2,204.21.
Sydney’s S&P-ASX 200 gained 0.4% to 6,821.70 and India’s Sensex advanced 0.8% to 41,507.97.
Benchmarks in Taiwan and Singapore advanced while New Zealand declined.
On Wall Street, futures for the benchmark Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.2%.
On Thursday, both reached new highs. The S&P 500 rose 0.5% and the Dow gained 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%.
Investors welcomed a report by Mastercard SpendingPulse that showed U.S. online Christmas shopping rose 18.8% over a year earlier.
Also Friday, Japan’s government reported factory output fell 0.9% in November compared with the previous month. Japanese retail sales rose 4.5% over a month earlier but inventory levels were high.
Despite optimism about U.S.-Chinese trade, traders still are concerned about bigger unresolved disputes.
The coming year also has the added complication of the U.S. presidential election.
ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude gained 23 cents to $61.90 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract added 57 cents on Thursday to close at $61.88. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 20 cents to $66.96 per barrel in London. It rose 60 cents the previous session to $66.76.
CURRENCY: The dollar weakened to 109.47 yen from Thursday’s 109.57 yen. The euro rose to $1.1139 from $1.1100.
