World shares rise after Trump signs bill ending govt shutdown

Manila: World shares mostly gained on Thursday after US stocks settled near their records and US President Donald Trump signed a government funding bill, ending the record 43-day shutdown.

The future for S&P 500 edged up 0.1 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2 per cent ahead of the reopening of the federal government following the standoff that caused financial stress for federal workers who went without paychecks, stranded scores of travellers at airports and generated long lines at some food banks.

“The shutdown had blocked not just spending, but also delayed a raft of federal economic data,” Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary, adding that “for markets, the only line that matters is simple: the lights are coming back on.”

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX slipped less than 0.1 per cent to 24,374.90, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.7 per cent to 8,300.20. Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.3 per cent to 9,881.42. Asian shares were also mostly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.4 per cent to 51,281.83.

But market heavyweight and tech giant SoftBank Group lost another 3.4 per cent on top of a 3.5 per cent drop on Wednesday after the company said it had sold all of its shares in computer chip maker Nvidia.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index rose 0.6 per cent to 27,073.03, while the Shanghai Composite index jumped 0.7 per cent to 4,029.50 as mainland stocks climbed ahead of updates on lending in China.

Australia’s S&P ASX 200 shed 0.5 per cent to 8,753.40, falling for a third straight session as hopes for near-term interest rate cuts were quashed by strong jobs data that showed unemployment falling to 4.3 per cent in October from 4.5 per cent in September.