OPENING CALL: The Australian share market is expected to open flat.
Thomas Cook Group, the 178-year-old British travel company, collapsed after failing to conclude a rescue deal with investors and creditors, forcing the U.K. government to repatriate tens of thousands of travellers and putting thousands of people out of work.
U.S. government-bond prices rose intraday after weak economic data from Europe. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note was a recent 1.699%, according to Tradeweb, compared with 1.754% Friday.
Overnight Summary
Each Market in Focus
Australian began the week positively, shrugging off U.S.-China trade uncertainty. The S&P/ASX 200 ended within 100 points of the record high logged in late July, rising 0.3% to 6749.7.
Despite easing back in the final minutes of trading, energy, health care and property stocks outperformed, while industrials and telecom shares slipped into the red.
U.S. stocks hovered around the flatline intraday, with gains across sectors capped by declines among shares of industrial and materials companies. The Dow Jones Industrial Average inched up 42 points, or 0.2%, to 26977. The S&P 500 declined 0.1%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.1%.
Data early in the day showed Germany’s manufacturing and services sectors weakened more than expected in September, adding to investors’ worries about the health of Europe’s biggest economy.
That sent European markets lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 retreating 0.8% and German government-bond yields slipping further below zero. Even with the moves, though, U.S. stock indexes remain less than 1% from records. Investors have attributed strong gains there to the relative strength of the U.S. economy. For instance, IHS Markit data showed that business activity in the domestic private sector picked up in September.
Gold futures climbed to settle at their highest in more than two weeks. Weak eurozone economic data raised worries over a slowdown in the global economy, as well as uncertainty surrounding U.S.-China trade talks and Iran tensions, combined to lift the metal’s haven appeal. December gold gained $16.40, or 1.1%, to settle at $1,531.50 on Comex. That was the highest most-active contract settlement since Sept. 4, according to FactSet data. In other commodity news, December wheat prices were down 1 1/4 cents at $4.83.
Oil futures wavered between modest losses and gains, as doubts over a bounce back in Saudi crude production fade, following a report that the country has already restored much of the output lost to attacks over a week ago that damaged its oil facilities.
The Saudis have restored around 75% of the crude production lost in the Sept. 14 attacks on its oil facilities, Reuters reported, citing a source briefed on the latest developments. The damage had initially disrupted 5.7 million barrels a day of Saudi oil production, or about 5% of world output.
The WSJ Dollar Index was up 0.06% recently at 91.43. Earlier in the day, sterling gave back some of its gains as recent optimism that the U.K. is less likely to crash out of the European Union on Oct. 31 without a deal fizzles out.
The pound has struggled to rise against the euro, despite the single currency falling sharply against other currencies following a steep slide in eurozone manufacturing and services surveys.
Data early in the day showed Germany’s manufacturing and services sectors weakened more than expected in September, adding to investors’ worries about the health of Europe’s biggest economy.
That sent European markets lower, with the Stoxx Europe 600 retreating 0.8% and German government-bond yields slipping further below zero.
The FTSE 100 closed down 0.26%. London-listed shares of TUI led the gainers and closed up 7.2% at 901.40 pence after rival Thomas Cook Group collapsed into insolvency. Meanwhile, the CAC-40 Index was down 60.02 points, or 1.05%, to 5630.76 while the German DAX was down 125.68 points, or 1.01%, to 12342.33.
In Asia, Chinese shares fell amid concerns about the faltering trade talks. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index closed nearly 1% lower, while its smaller Shenzhen counterpart fell slightly more than 1%.
South Korea’s benchmark Kospi closed almost flat, edging up 0.18 point, or 0.01%, to 2091.70. The index moved very little for most of the session as investors were sidelined amid growing uncertainties about a U.S.-China trade deal after U.S. President Donald
Trump rejected suggestions for a partial agreement with China, said a Shinhan Investment analyst. Hong Kong stocks closed lower as investors remain cautious following another weekend of protests in the city. The Hang Seng Index ended the day 0.8% lower at 26222.40.
Malaysian stocks closed lower, weighed down by Petronas-linked shares. The FTSE Bursa Malaysia KLCI fell 0.3% to 1592.93. And Singapore stocks closed lower alongside most Asian markets. The FTSE Straits Times Index was down 0.5% at 3143.24, weighed by industrial conglomerates and banks.
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