US stocks rally on trade hope with China
Wall Street rallied on Friday, with the Dow and the Nasdaq posting their eighth consecutive weekly gains as investors grew hopeful that the United States and China would hammer out an agreement resolving their protracted trade war.
All three major US indexes ended the session higher, and for the fourth straight session, the S&P 500 held above its 200-day moving average, a key technical level.
Talks between the United States and China will resume in Washington next week, with both sides saying progress has been made toward resolving the two countries’ contentious trade dispute.
Tariff-vulnerable industrials provided the biggest lift to the blue-chip Dow, led by bellwethers Boeing Co, 3M Co, United Technologies Inc and Caterpillar Inc.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 443.86 points, or 1.74 percent, to 25,883.25, the S&P 500 gained 29.87 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,775.6 and the Nasdaq Composite added 45.46 points, or 0.61 percent, to 7,472.41. All 11 major sectors in the S&P 500 ended the session in the black.
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Pakistan stocks continue to lose ground over economic concerns
The stock market closed flat on Friday amid pressure on selected stocks on investor concern over the prevailing economic uncertainty. Institutional support was concentrated in oil stocks amid surging global crude prices and expectation of $21-billion Saudi investment during the visit of Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman at the weekend.
Investor concern over likely hike in power tariff, surging circular debt and higher fiscal deficit of around 6.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) played the role of catalyst in bearish close of the market.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 20.31 points, or 0.05 percent, to settle at 40,486.67.
Overall, trading volumes decreased to 93 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 123.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs4.69 billion.
Shares of 316 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 150 stocks closed higher, 152 declined and 14 remained unchanged.
Lotte Chemical was the volume leader with 10 million shares, losing Rs0.34 to close at Rs16.31.
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India indices close off day’s low
Indian benchmark indices registered strong recovery from the day’s low point with Nifty able to close above 10,700 level. The Sensex was down 67.27 points at 35808.95, while Nifty was down 21.60 points at 10724.40. About 911 shares have advanced, 1581 shares declined, and 136 shares are unchanged.
BPCL, Power Grid, NTPC, GAIL and Bharti Infratel are the top gainers, while JSW Steel, Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy’s Labs, Indiabulls Hsg and Tata Steel are among major loser on the Nifty.
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FTSE 100 strengthens on positive US-China trade talks
The FTSE 100 edged higher on Friday on renewed hopes of a US-China trade deal, while the Royal Bank of Scotland was a standout performer following better than expected results. London’s blue-chip index closed 39.67 points, or 0.55 percent, higher at 7,236.68, while Germany’s DAX rose 1.73 percent and France’s CAC grew 1.76 percent.
Fiona Cincotta, senior market analysts at City Index, said:“Trade chatter continued to dictate sentiment on Friday. European markets charged higher and Wall Street opened on a positive footing, following reports that US and China had reached a consensus in principle on key topics in the trade negotiations.
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Hong Kong shares end lower on deflation, trade worries
The Hong Kong stock market closed lower on Friday on lacklustre China economic data, and as Chinese and US officials remained locked in high-level talks, aimed at resolving the two countries’ trade dispute.
At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 1.9 percent at 27,900.84 points, while the Hang Seng China Enterprises index closed 2.1 percent weaker. Both indexes lost 0.2 percent on the week.
The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares ended 1.5 percent lower, the IT sector closed 2.7 percent weaker, the financial sector ended down 2.1 percent and the property sector shed 1.5 percent.
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Japan Nikkei extends losses
Headline indices of the Japan share market closed lower on Friday, 15 February 2019, as profit-taking pressure grew on tracking a weak Wall Street session overnight, the yen’s appreciation against the dollar, and on caution amid ongoing US-China trade negotiations in Beijing. Total 27 issues of TSE33 declined, with shares in nonferrous metals, services, machinery, glass & ceramics products, foods, and information & communication services issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play. At closing bell, the 225-issue Nikkei index fell 239.08 points, or 1.13percent, to end at 20,900.63. The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange was down 12.52 points, or 0.79 percent, at 1,577.29.
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Germany’s shares higher
Germany equities were higher at the close on Friday, as gains in the Media, Transportation & Logistics and Construction sectors propelled shares higher. At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX rose 1.89 percent, while the MDAX index added 1.65 percent, and the TecDAX index added 0.78 percent.
The biggest gainers of the session on the DAX were Covestro AG, which rose 4.89 percent or 2.380 points to trade at 51.080 at the close. Deutsche Bank AG NA O.N added 4.63 percent or 0.342 points to end at 7.722 and Bayer AG NA was up 4.00 percent or 2.62 points to 68.17 in late trade.
Biggest losers included Wirecard AG, which lost 2.30 percent or 2.350 points to trade at 99.900 in late trade. RWE AG ST O.N. declined 0.40 percent or 0.090 points to end at 22.340 and Thyssenkrupp AG O.N. shed 0.30 percent or 0.040 points to 13.260.
The top performers on the MDAX were Scout24 AG which rose 10.90percent to 46.000, United Internet AG NA) which was up 6.86percent to settle at 32.870 and Commerzbank AG O.N. which gained 5.52 percent to close at 6.666.
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Taiwan stock market may extend winning streak
The Taiwan stock market has finished higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 160 points or 1.6 percent along the way. The Taiwan Stock Exchange now rests just beneath the 10,100-point plateau and it may see additional support again on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on signs the United States government may avoid another shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are predicted to follow that lead.
The TSE finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, technology stocks and cement companies.
For the day, the index climbed 93.49 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 10,097.74 after trading between 10,032.08 and 10,100.23.