The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks shares in 45 nations, rose 0.65 points or 0.16 percent, to 411.48.
Advertisement
CLOUD COVER: Microsoft surged $3.48, or 6.6 percent, to $56.58. That’s what usually happens, because analysts tend to lower their earnings forecasts for companies as each reporting season approaches.
While most global stock markets post gains, investors scaled back their holdings of low-yielding government bonds, with US and German yields near their highest levels since Britain’s vote to leave the European Union on June 23. The low expectations have made it easier for companies to come in above forecasts.
Twenty-First Century Fox fell 75 cents, or 2.7 percent, to $27.00 amid widespread reports that its Fox News business will soon cut ties with its head, Roger Ailes, following allegations of sexual harassment.
TOKYO: Asian stocks stepped back early on Wednesday after a record run on Wall Street showed signs of petering out, while the dollar hovered near a four-month high against a basket of currencies.
Gold also fell and last stood at about US$1,326 an ounce, down 0.5 percent on the day.
Markets have become calm enough that the VIX, an index that measures investors’ expectations of future volatility in the stock market, fell 2.2 percent and is near its lowest level since 2014.
That’s a change from the end of June, when the S&P 500 swung at least that much in six straight days, with one particularly sharp drop of 3.6 percent.
Asian stocks slipped on Tuesday, as a downturn in crude oil curbed the enthusiasm from fresh record highs on Wall Street.
In the oil sector, Woodside Petroleum is up nearly 1 percent and Oil Search is adding more than 1 percent, while Santos is losing 0.6 percent.
The impressive run in major equity markets around the globe led investors to reduce their safe-haven positions in USA and German government debt, sending their yields higher.
CRUDE PAIN: Energy stocks fell with the price of oil. It had been below $44 earlier in the day.
Shares in the Japanese game maker closed Tuesday up 14 percent at 31,700 yen ($300) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) and have more than doubled in value since the wildly popular augmented-reality game was launched on July 6.
Crude gained as much as 1 percent on Wednesday, after USA inventory data alleviated some fears of supply glut, though gave up some its gains in early Asian trade.
Japan’s Nikkei stock index pared early gains but was still up 0.5 percent, as markets reopened after a public holiday on Monday and responded to a weaker yen.
Brent crude LCOc1 was last down $0.44, or down 0.94 percent, at $46.22 a barrel.
OVERSEAS: European markets were mostly higher, while Asia’s day was mixed.
The dollar traded at 106.16 yen JPY= after touching a one-month high of 106.53 overnight.
Advertisement
USA crude CLc1 was little changed at $44.67 a barrel after falling more than 1 percent for a second day in a row on Tuesday, as a rallying dollar and a global fuel glut offset forecasts for lower US crude stockpiles that typically would have been bullish for the market.
