Among the day’s decliners, the telecommunications index fell 0.8 percent, leading sector losses.
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“Markets breathed a collective sigh of relief that minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting gave no clear indication the Fed is ready to raise interest rates”, wrote Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets. India’s Sensex rose 0.6 percent to 28,166.50 and benchmarks in Taiwan, Thailand and Indonesia also gained.
World equity markets advanced on Thursday, helped by positive United States labour market data and comments from an influential Federal Reserve policymaker about strong hiring gains in recent months, while higher oil prices lifted energy sector stocks.
Key indexes on Wall Street were little changed as oil-related gains were offset by a drop in tech stocks. The Dow Jones industrial average .dji was down 25.82 points, or 0.14 percent, at 18,526.2, the S&P 500 .spx was down 2.38 points, or 0.11 percent, at 2,175.77 and the Nasdaq Composite index .ixic was down 6.42 points, or 0.12 percent, at 5,220.69.
“Several suggested the committee would likely have ample time to react if inflation rose more quickly than they now anticipated, but they preferred to defer another increase until they were more confident inflation was moving closer to 2% on a sustained basis”, according to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting. The rise in the yen to about 99 to the dollar has made imports cheaper but Japanese goods more expensive for foreign customers, hurting an economic recovery. The trade decline by volume was milder, with exports falling 2.5 percent while imports declined 4 percent.
Strong gains in the shares of Wal-Mart provided the biggest boost to the Dow and the S&P 500; the stock rose as much as 3.1 per cent to $75.19, a more than 14-month high, after the retailer posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit.
All of the major currencies were trading in tight ranges, with the exception of the Australian dollar, pushed 0.8 percent lower by a cut by Moody’s in its outlook for Australian bank ratings. Barnes & Noble tumbled after the book seller said CEO Ronald Boire is leaving after less than a year in the job.
USA stocks are trading lower Wednesday as the market inches away from its recent record highs. Brent crude, used to price global oils, lost 12 cents to $49.72 in London. It jumped 62 cents the previous session to $49.85.
The index of the dollar against a basket of six major currencies .DXY was up about 0.2 percent at 94.296.
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The euro EUR= slipped 0.2 percent to $1.1335 EUR=, but still within sight of its overnight high of $1.1366, its loftiest peak since June 24. The contract climbed 21 cents on Wednesday to close at $46.79.
