US stocks up as tech shares up on trade talks hope
US. stocks rose on Friday, as technology shares were boosted by signs of progress in the ongoing trade talks between the United States and China. Top trade negotiators from the two countries met to wrap up a week of talks on some of the thorniest issues in their trade war, with President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He set to meet at the Oval Office later in the day.
Stocks have largely risen this week on hopes of a trade deal, but a batch of weak data pointing to growing headwinds to the US economy put the brakes on the S&P 500’s three-day rally on Thursday.
Tech stocks jumped 1.12 percent, leading gains among the 11 major S&P sectors and putting the benchmark index on track for its four weeks of gains.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq Composite were on course to post nine straight weeks of gains.
Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and chipmakers led the rally in the tech sector. The Philadelphia Semiconductor index gained 1.08 percent, led by Intel Corp’s 2.7 percent rise after Morgan Stanley lifted its rating to “overweight”.
The Dow was up 168.11 points, or 0.65 percent, at 26,018.74. The S&P 500 was up 15.30 points, or 0.55 percent, at 2,790.18 and the Nasdaq was up 54.64 points, or 0.73 percent, at 7,514.34.
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Pakistan stocks index falls in lacklustre trading
The stock market extended its bearish spell on Friday as there were no significant positive triggers to propel the benchmark index and trading remained lacklustre. The KSE-100 index dived nearly 270 points in the first hour of trading amid a lack of positive news.
At the end of trading, the benchmark KSE 100-share Index recorded a decrease of 54.58 points, or 0.14percent, to settle at 40,016.13. Overall, trading volumes decreased to 98.7 million shares compared with Thursday’s tally of 102.6 million. The value of shares traded during the day was Rs5.5 billion. Shares of 313 companies were traded. At the end of the day, 132 stocks closed higher, 162 declined and 19 remained unchanged. The Bank of Punjab was the volume leader with 7.4 million shares, losing Rs0.07 to close at Rs13.36.
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Japan stocks lower
Japan stocks were lower after the close on Friday, as losses in the Mining, Marine Transport and Shipbuilding sectors led shares lower. At the close in Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 declined 0.18percent. The best performers of the session on the Nikkei 225 were Nippon Paper Industries Co., Ltd., which rose 3.75percent or 77.0 points to trade at 2129.0 at the close. Meanwhile, Haseko Corp added 1.77percent or 24.00 points to end at 1379.00 and Hitachi Zosen Corp. was up 1.71percent or 6.0 points to 357.0 in late trade. Falling stocks outnumbered advancing ones on the Tokyo Stock Exchange by 1951 to 1479 and 263 ended unchanged. The Nikkei Volatility, which measures the implied volatility of Nikkei 225 options, was down 3.04percent to 17.57.
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France stocks move higher
France stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Industrials, Consumer Goods and Consumer Services sectors led shares higher.
At the close in Paris, the CAC 40 rose 0.38percent to hit a new 3-months high, while the SBF 120 index added 0.39 percent. The best performers of the session on the CAC 40 were Atos SE, which rose 3.32percent or 2.76 points to trade at 85.80 at the close. Meanwhile, Airbus Group SE added 2.10percent or 2.34 points to end at 113.70 and Safran SA was up 1.48percent or 1.75 points to 120.00 in late trade.
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Germany stocks surge
Germany stocks were higher after the close on Friday, as gains in the Technology, Industrials and Software sectors led shares higher. At the close in Frankfurt, the DAX added 0.30 percent to hit a new 1-month high, while the MDAX index climbed 0.25 percent, and the TecDAX index gained 0.53 percent. The best performers of the session on the DAX were Wirecard AG which rose 4.35percent or 4.800 points to trade at 115.100 at the close. Meanwhile, Thyssenkrupp AG O.N. added 1.71 percent or 0.225 points to end at 13.410 and Siemens AG Class N was up 1.48 percent or 1.40 points to 95.84 in late trade.
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FTSE 100 climbs on trade talk optimism
FTSE 100 closed the day in positive territory where it spent the day as Wall Street shares were also higher as the market await the highly Anticipated meeting between President Donald Trump and China’s top trade negotiator.
The UK’s premier share index closed up around 11 points at 7,178 on the day but was down around 0.8percent over the last five days. Mid-tier cousin FTSE 250 was also up, finishing at 19,269 – up nearly 33 points. Large cap miners were the big Footsie winners on the back of the trade optimism. Evraz added 3.54percent to 550.20p. Anglo American gained 3.38percent to stand at 2,057p.
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Saudi Arabia stocks up, tadawul shines
Saudi Arabia stocks were higher after the close on Wednesday, as gains in the Agriculture & Food, Hotels & Tourism and Energy & Utilities sectors led shares higher. At the close in Saudi Arabia, the Tadawul All Share added 0.59 percent. The best performers of the session on the Tadawul All Share were Saudi Steel Pipe Company, which rose 3.53percent or 0.88 points to trade at 25.80 at the close. Meanwhile, Samba Financial Group added 3.19 percent or 1.15 points to end at 37.15 and Dur Hospitality was up 2.91percent or 0.56 points to 19.78 in late trade. The worst performers of the session were The Saudi Investment Bank, which fell 2.12percent or 0.42 points to trade at 19.38 at the close. The Mediterranean & Gulf Insurance Co declined 1.86 percent or 0.28 points to end at 14.80 and Malath Cooperative Insurance Co was down 1.78 percent or 0.22 points to 12.16.
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India’s Sensex, Nifty end with marginal gains
In the rangebound trading, Sensex and Nifty posted marginal gains for the week ended February 22 amid geopolitical tensions and firm global cues as market participants expecting positive outcome from US-China trade talk.
Market finished the first two days on the lower side but managed to bounce back and finished higher for next two days, while it closed flat on the last day of the week. For the week Sensex rose 0.17 percent or 62.53 points, to end at 35,871.48, while Nifty gained 0.62 percent, or 67.3 points, to close at 10,791.7. On a weekly basis, the rupee was up 8 paise as it ended at 71.14 on February 22 against January 15 closing of 71.22.