World Stocks edged higher in most major markets on Thursday, June 21, as a lull in the Sino-U.S. trade tussle and talk of more stimulus in China helped calm nerves, though the nagging trade tensions caused Chinese shares to slip, dragging other Asian markets lower.
European shares are expected to rise, with spread-betters calling a higher opening of 0.4 percent in Britain’s FTSE .FTSE and France’s CAC 40 .FCHI and 0.3 percent in Germany’s DAX .GDAXI.
Japan’s Nikkei .N225 added 0.6 percent while futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 rose 0.3 percent as investors waited for new developments on global trade.
Australia’s main index had another strong day, rising 1 percent on fund manager demand before the end of the local financial year next week.
Asian shares, however, struggled to keep early gains on concerns about the trade war.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS had gained as much as 0.5 percent before falls led by Chinese shares pushed it down 0.4 percent,Reuters reports.
The CSI300 index of Shanghai and Shenzen shares dropped 0.4 percent .CSI300.
Still, the mere absence of new threats from President Donald Trump on tariffs was enough to stem recent selling in many markets, with investors clinging to the hope that all the bluster was a ploy which would stop short of an outright trade war.
“Many participants see the Trump Administration’s hard line as part of the negotiating strategy,” said Richard Grace, chief currency strategist at CBA.
Markets had also been encouraged by the People’s Bank of China’s move to set firm fixings for its yuan, along with the addition of extra liquidity.
There was also much speculation the central bank would cut bank reserve requirements, thus boosting lending power in the economy.
On Wall Street, resilience in tech stocks helped the Nasdaq to an all-time high, though the moves were modest. While the Dow Jones .DJI fell 0.17 percent, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 0.17 percent and the Nasdaq .IXIC 0.72 percent.
