US stocks little changed
Wall Street ended little changed on Friday as energy shares dropped and investors looked ahead to earnings season, which will kick off next week with Citigroup, JPMorgan and other big banks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5.97 points, or 0.02 percent, to 23,995.95, the S&P 500 lost 0.38 points, or 0.01 percent, to 2,596.26 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 14.59 points, or 0.21 percent, to 6,971.48.
Wall Street dipped slightly on Friday, breaking a five-session rally, as energy shares declined and investors looked ahead to earnings season, which kicks off next week with Citigroup, JPMorgan and other big banks.
Underpinned by optimism over China-US trade talks and expectations of a slow pace of interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, the stock market’s winning streak through Thursday added 6 percent to the S&P 500 and left it up about 10 percent from the 20-month low it hit around Christmas.
US stocks took a severe beating in the last quarter of 2018 due to worries over trade, interest rate hikes and a slowdown in global growth.
Analysts expect S&P 500 companies’ earnings per share to grow by 6.4 percent this year, compared with 23.5 percent in 2018, when they were supercharged by newly enacted corporate tax cuts, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
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Britain’s top share index dips
British blue-chip shares retreated on Friday after a sterling rally on a newspaper report of cabinet ministers saying that Britain would have to delay its European Union exit. The report in the Evening Standard pushed sterling up against the dollar and euro, dragging the exporter-heavy FTSE 100 off earlier highs and down 0.4 percent. AstraZeneca fell 3.6 percent, while HSBC and GlaxoSmithKline also fell. But weakness in oil majors BP and Shell on lower crude prices made the sector the biggest drag on the FTSE 100. Mid-caps, which make half of their income at home, rose 0.6 percent to their highest in more than a month. Taylor Wimpey jumped 4.8 percent to top the FTSE 100 leader board, with Persimmon and Barratt Developments up 4.4 and 2.9 percent respectively.
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German indexes end in green
Germany’s DAX index closed positive on Thursday despite opening in red over profit booking activities and cues from international market as increased risk appetite in broad market helped the bulls recover from intra-day lows and stage significant upward price action.
Increased risk on trading activity and cues from US market helped DAX index erase most of loss from early trading session and move back near 15-session high’s near end of European trading hours. All three major German indices closed in green on Thursday with DAX, MDAX and TECDAX up by 0.26 percent, 0.30 percent & 0.67 percent on the day respectively. Out of 778 equities listed in Frankfurt stock exchange 371 stocks closed in Green on Thursday with stocks from Food & Beverage and Utilities sector seeing major upside price action. DAX futures trading in international market up by 0.46 percent ahead of European market hours and given DAX’s performance on Thursday and positive investor sentiment in market
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Saudi Arabian stocks surge
Saudi Arabia stocks were higher after the close on Thursday, as gains in the Financial Services, Agriculture & Food and Telecoms & IT sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share gained 0.78 percent to hit a new 3-months high. The best performers of the session on the Tadawul All Share were Falcom Petrochemical, which rose 3.95 percent or 1.20 points to trade at 31.60 at the close. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co. added 3.14 percent or 2.40 points to end at 78.90 and Saudi United Cooperative Insurance (SE:8060) was up 3.07 percent or 0.70 points to 23.50 in late trade. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Saudi Arabia Stock Exchange by 106 to 70 and 12 ended unchanged.
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Japanese stocks higher
Japan stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Trading, Machinery and Power sectors led shares higher. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 added 0.97 percent.
The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Olympus Corp which rose 9.88 percent or 360.0 points to trade at 4005.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Hitachi Ltd added 8.64 percent or 266.0 points to end at 3346.0 and Fast Retailing Co., Ltd was up 6.19 percent or 3220.0 points to 55280.0 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were Aeon Co Ltd, which fell 4.39 percent or 96.5 points to trade at 2100.5 at the close. Rising stocks outnumbered declining ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1972 to 1506 and 222 ended unchanged. The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was up 4.89 percent to 24.44.
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India’s Sensex nearly 100 points
Indian market ended the week on a negative note, with the Nifty giving up 10,800. All sectoral indices, barring consumption, have ended in the red. The Nifty FMCG index ended nearly a percent higher. Weakness was visible among midcap names as well, with the Nifty Midcap closing with losses of one-fifth of a percent.
At the close of market hours, the Sensex was down 96.66 points or 0.27 percent at 36009.84, while the Nifty was down 26.60 points or 0.25 percent at 10795.00. The market breadth was negative as 1180 shares advanced, against a decline of 1403 shares, while 169 shares were unchanged. ITC, Infosys, and UPL were the top gainers, while IndusInd Bank and Tata Motors lost the most.