Global indices track Wall St rally

Bangkok Shares opened higher in Europe on Wednesday, taking their cues from gains in Asia and on Wall Street. US futures were little changed and oil prices fell. Britain reported inflation fell to 7.9 per cent in June, a 15-month low. Economists had forecast inflation would decline to 8.2 per cent, but it did better than that thanks to falling fuel prices and milder food price increases. It’s a relief for struggling consumers and is a further welcome sign that upward price pressures are abating. That has raised hopes among investors that central banks might begin winding down the latest cycle of interest rate hikes.

Britain’s FTSE 100 advanced 1.3 per cent to 7,552.03 and Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 per cent, at 16,165.07. In Paris, the CAC40 gained 0.6 per cent to 7,360.78. The future for the S&P-500 edged less than 0.1 per cent higher and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.1 per cent. In Asian trading, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 0.3 per cent to 18,952.31, partly due to selling of property shares after troubled developer China Evergrande reported its total debts rose in the past two years to about $340 billion.

New World Development fell 1.9 per cent and Sun Hung Kai Properties lost 0.7 per cent. The Shanghai Composite index closed flat at 3,198.84. The property market, a major driver of growth in China, has languished after regulators reined in lending to try to bring debt in the industry under control.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei-225 gained 1.2 per cent to 32,896.03 while the Kospi in Seoul was barely changed at 2,608.24. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6 per cent to 7,323.70. Shares rose in India and Bangkok.

The Asian Development Bank issued an update on regional economies noting that exports have weakened as growth has slowed in China and other major economies. Demand for key technology exports fell sharply, the report by the regional development lender said. On Tuesday, the S&P 500 rose 0.7 per cent, posting its highest finish since early April 2022. The Dow industrials rallied 1.1 per cent and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8 per cent. Microsoft was the biggest single force pushing up the S&P-500, by far.

Wall Street has sent a select group of stocks soaring this year on hopes that AI will drive tremendous growth in profits and herald a revolution for the global economy. Besides Microsoft’s nearly 50 per cent gain for the year, Nvidia has more than tripled. Stocks in the financial industry also drove the market higher.