Global stocks trading higher as outlook turns positive

Bangkok: European shares were trading higher Monday after a day of gains in Asia. US futures and oil prices also advanced.

Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) leading economic powers pledged financial, humanitarian and other support for Ukraine. Conferring by video link with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, they were finalising a deal to seek a price cap on Russian oil, raise tariffs on Russian goods and impose other new sanctions. Details were to be sorted by finance ministers, according to a senior US official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to preview announcements from the summit.

Markets seemed unfazed by the possibility that Russia may have defaulted on its foreign debt for the first time since the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, further alienating the country from the global financial system amid its war in Ukraine. Russia faced a Sunday night deadline to meet a 30-day grace period on interest payments originally due May 27. But it could take time to confirm a default. Elsewhere in Asia, markets in Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong ended in the green following sharp gains in the US markets on Friday. European markets were also trading in the green in mid-session deals.

Germany's DAX gained 0.9% to 13,229.00 while the CAC 40 in Paris picked up 0.3% to 6,091.12. Britain's FTSE 100 advanced 0.7% to 7,260.71. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.5% while that for the Dow industrials gained 0.4%. In Asian trading, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led regional gains, surging 2.4% to 22,229.52, while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo gained 1.4% to 26,871.27.