OPENING CALL: The Australian share market is expected to open flat. The SPI200 futures contract expected to open up 9 points.
The global economy is set to grow at the slowest pace since the financial crisis, with business investment and trade hampered by an escalating dispute between the U.S. and China, the OECD said.
Amazon.com plans to buy 100,000 electric delivery trucks as it seeks to reduce its carbon emissions in the face of criticism of its environmental impact.
Overnight Summary
Each Market in Focus
Broad gains outside the resources space buoyed Australia’s stock benchmark, carrying it to a fresh seven-week closing high.
Sentiment was bolstered by a slight lift in unemployment that heightens the prospect that the central bank will again cut rates.
The S&P/ASX 200 settled 0.5% higher at 6717.5, and is now up in nine of the last 11 sessions. Telecom and utilities companies led, as only the materials and energy subindexes in retreat.
Prices found support as Saudi Arabia reportedly contacted foreign producers to help fill holes in its supply chain following last weekend’s attacks on the country’s production facilities.
Federal-funds futures, which investors use to bet on the direction of central bank policy, show roughly 2-in-3 odds that the central bank will cut interest rates at least once more before the end of the year, according to CME Group data.
The Stoxx Europe 600 gained 0.6% to 391.80 while the FTSE 100 rose 0.6%, the DAX was up 0.5% and the CAC-40 advanced 0.7%.
In Asia, the Shanghai Composite rose 0.5%, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gained 0.4%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier, with a 1.1% drop.
Japanese stocks closed at their highest level in nearly five months after the Bank of Japan stood pat on its policy but kept easing expectations intact. Any policy-related comments from BOJ officials will be watched closely in the coming days. The Nikkei Stock Average rose to 22044.45, the highest close since April 26.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed 0.5% higher at 2080.35, capping a 10-session winning streak, as technology shares rallied. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell’s post meeting comments signalling more policy easing after cutting its policy interest rate, as well as renewed hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal, are buoying sentiment, said NH Investment & Securities analyst Noh Dong-kil.
Malaysian stocks ended lower, though they climbed higher in afternoon trade. The Kuala Lumpur Composite Index closed 0.2% lower at 1596.28. Market breadth was negative, with losers beating gainers 464 to 362.
Singapore shares edged lower, as investors grappled with the lack of clarity on further rate cuts by the Fed. The FTSE Straits Times Index closed 0.3% lower at 3158.80, weighed down by banks.
DBS Group eased 0.1%, United Overseas Bank fell 0.8% and Oversea-Chinese Banking And Indian stocks closed lower with the benchmark Sensex down 1.3% at 36093.47.
Financial stocks were among the biggest losers following the overnight rate cut by the Fed.
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