Global Mkts Mixed As Wall St Extends Loss For 3rd Session

Bangkok: Shares were trading higher in Europe after a retreat Thursday in Asia following a third straight day of losses on Wall Street as its long, record-breaking rally lost more steam.Oil prices gained more than $1. Germany’s DAX climbed 0.8 per cent to 19,525.36 and the CAC 40 in Paris also gained 0.8 per cent, to 7,557.30. Britain’s FTSE 100 was likewise up 0.8 per cent, at 8,322.03. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1 per cent lower.

In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 shed larger early gains, ending 0.1 per cent higher at 38,143.29 as purchasing manager indexes showed worsening conditions in Japan for both manufacturing and services. The overall composite PMI compiled by au Jibun Bank fell to a two-year low. “Japan’s private sector fell into contraction territory at the start of the fourth quarter of the year,” Usamah Bhatti, an economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said in a commentary. “Confidence about business activity growth in the next 12 months softened in October and was the least pronounced since August 2020.”

Chinese markets declined, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng losing 1.3 per cent to 20,489.62, while the Shanghai Composite index shed 0.7 per cent to 3,280.26.