Global markets turn bullish
Trend comes in wake of Fed decision to wind down inflation and bond purchases and another stimulus
Beijing: Global stocks rose Monday following a big Wall Street gain at the start of a week when China, South Korea and Southeast Asian markets will close for the Lunar New Year holiday. London and Frankfurt opened higher. Tokyo and Hong Kong advanced while Sydney declined. Markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. Hong Kong and Southeast Asia were due to close later in the week.
Wall Street's benchmark S&P 500 index rose 2.4% on Friday, breaking a three-week losing streak and giving major indices their biggest gains this year. Investors have been rattled by the Federal Reserve's decision to try to cool inflation by accelerating plans to raise interest rates and wind down bond purchases and other stimulus that is boosting stock prices. "Prospects of rising rates and shrinking global liquidity compressed within a much shorter time-frame brings with it appreciable risks of unsettling markets," Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank said in a report. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London gained 0.6% to 7,507.98 and Frankfurt's DAX rose 1.1% to 15.491.27. The CAC in Paris was 0.6% higher at 7,010.76. On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S&P 500 index was up less than 0.1%. That for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged.
On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 2.4% for its biggest gain since June 2020. The Dow added 1.7% and the Nasdaq composite jumped 3.1%. In Asia, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.1% to 27,001.98 after the government reported December retail sales fell 1% from the previous month's 2 1/2-year high. That was driven by a 4% fall in food purchases. The Hang Seng gained 1.1% to 23,802.26 while Sydney's S&P-ASX 200 shed 0.2% to 6,971.60.
