World Shares Mixed Ahead Of Friday’s US Jobs Report
A report on Thursday said more US workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. The number remains relatively low compared with history, but it still hit its highest level in eight months
World Shares Mixed Ahead Of Friday’s US Jobs Report
Tokyo: World shares were mixed on Friday ahead of an update on the US job market that will offer insights into how the economy is faring.
The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.4 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 per cent. Germany’s DAX lost 0.3 per cent to 24,263.21, while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1 per cent lower, to 7,786.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.2 per cent higher to 8,831.87.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.5 per cent to 37,741.61, while the Kospi in South Korea jumped 1.5 per cent to 2,812.05. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.2 per cent to 23,859.52 and the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1 per cent higher, to 3,385.36. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 shed 0.3 per cent to 8,515.70. India’s Sensex gained 0.9 per cent after the Reserve Bank cut its key interest rate by a half a percentage point to 5.50 per cent.
On Thursday, the S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent for its first drop in four days. After sprinting through May and rallying within a couple good days’ worth of gains of its all-time high, the index at the centre of many 401(k) accounts has lost momentum.
