NEW YORK: Wall Street has surged to fresh highs as rising oil prices lift energy stocks and an upbeat forecast from No. 2 US carrier Delta Air Lines drives airline stocks higher.
Brent crude rose above $US70 a barrel and US crude rose 1.57 per cent to $US64.58 per barrel, its highest since December 2014, boosted by a surprise drop in US production and lower crude inventories.
Chevron rose 3.2 per cent and Exxon 1.5 per cent, helping the S&P energy index gain 2.24 per cent and putting it on track for its best per centage gain in more than seven months. Delta Air Lines rose about 2 per cent after reporting upbeat quarterly profit as well as forecast, helped by higher business fares in a busy holiday season.
That helped the Dow Jones US Airlines index up 2.25 per cent. At 12:20 p.m. ET (1720 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 119.54 points, or 0.47 per cent, at 25,488.67 and the S&P 500 was up 10.06 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 2,758.29.
LONDON: European shares dipped on Thursday as a bond market sell-off and a stronger euro took the steam out of the breakneck New Year rally in equities.
Results drove the bulk of stock moves, with some disappointments weighing heavily.
The pan-European STOXX 600 and euro zone equities ended the session 0.3 per cent lower, extending sharp losses in the previous session when jitters over a report that China was considering slowing purchases of US Treasury bonds spilled over into stocks.
A Chinese regulator on Thursday said the report might be “fake”.
While the STOXX was roughly flat for most of the morning session, the index dipped followed the release of minutes from the European Central Bank’s December meeting showing that the ECB should revisit its policy message in early 2018.
The euro’s rise following the ECB release put pressure on Euro zone indexes with Germany’s DAX closing 0.59 per cent lower, at 13,202.90.
Britain’s FTSE 100, meanwhile, touched a fresh record and ended 0.19 per cent higher at 7,762.94.
UK retailers Tesco and Marks & Spencer were among the biggest fallers, however, after their Christmas trading updates disappointed, with consumers cutting down on non-essential items.
TOKYO: Asian indexes were pulled lower by warnings from Canada and Mexico that NAFTA’s days could be numbered.
MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.25 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei index closed down 0.33 per cent at 23,710.43.
Hong Kong’s benchmark stock index rose for the 13th consecutive session on Thursday, as strength in financial shares offset losses of 2.5 per cent for index heavyweight Tencent Holdings.
The Hang Seng index was up 0.15 per cent at 31,120.39. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index rose 0.05 per cent to 12,295.52.
China’s main Shanghai Composite index closed up 0.10 per cent at 3,425.35 points while its blue-chip CSI300 index ended down 0.05 per cent at 4,205.59.
WELLINGTON: The S&P/NZX50 Index dropped 1.4 per cent, to 8,250.44.
