World stocks mixed as virus cases surge in Asia
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Beijing Global stock markets were mixed on Monday after surging new coronavirus cases in Thailand and Taiwan fuelled disease fears and Chinese factory and consumer activity were weaker than expected. London and Frankfurt opened lower. Shanghai and Hong Kong advanced while Tokyo declined.
Wall Street futures fell after the S&P 500 index gained Friday, rebounding from heavy selling earlier, but finished the week down 1.4 per cent for its biggest weekly loss in three months. Thailand reported 9,635 new coronavirus cases. That added to concern after Taiwan and Singapore announced limits on public gatherings and other curbs over the weekend following new infections. The rebound in economies that appeared to have the disease under control fuelled concern the region's recovery might be pushed back.
"The buy everything exuberance that rounded out the week in New York had not translated into Asian markets," said Jeffrey Halley of Oanda in a report. "Instead, it is surging cases of Covid-19 across Asia that have grabbed the headlines." Investors also looked ahead to Tuesday's release of notes from the latest US Federal Reserve meeting. In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London lost 0.4 per cent to 7,018.67 and Frankfurt's DAX was off less than 0.1 per cent at 15,402.13. The CAC in Paris shed 0.2 per cent to 6,373.84.
On Wall Street, futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were off 0.2 per cent. On Friday, the S&P 500 rose 1.5 per cent to 4,173.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.1 per cent to 34,382.13, ending down 1.1 per cent for the week. The Nasdaq advanced 2.3 per cent to 13,429.98 for a weekly loss of 2.3 per cent. Wall Street's gain Friday was led by technology stocks. Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon.com and Google's parent company all rose 1 per cent or more. Retailers, banks and industrial stocks also rose.
That followed three days of heavy selling driven by investor worries about a possible rise in US inflation. The major indexes had hit all-time highs the previous week.
