World shares mixed after Wall St’s retreat from peaks

European markets were mixed, and Asian shares mostly fell on Tuesday after US stocks pulled away from their record heights. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up less than 0.1 per cent. In Germany, the DAX gained 0.5 per cent to 24,154.07, while the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.2 per cent to 8,089.65. Britain’s FTSE 100 was nearly unchanged at 9,640.58.

In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index was the main outlier, gaining 0.1 per cent to 50,655.10. Chinese markets declined as investors watched for news from the Central Economic Work Conference, an annual planning meeting of the ruling Communist Party’s leadership.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 1.3 per cent to 24,434.23, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.4 per cent to 3,909.52. In South Korea, the Kospi lost 0.3 per cent to 4,143.55, and the Taiex in Taiwan fell 0.4 per cent. India’s Sensex declined 0.5 per cent. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia gave up 0.5 per cent to 8,585.90 after the Reserve Bank opted to keep its cash rate unchanged at 3.6 per cent.

Computer chip giant Nvidia’s shares were up 1.7 per cent in pre-market trading after President Donald Trump said he will allow it to sell its H200 computer chip used in the development of artificial intelligence to “approved customers” in China.

Trump said Monday on his social media site that he had informed China’s leader Xi Jinping, and “President Xi responded positively!” Nvidia’s shares rose 1.7 per cent on Monday.