TOKYO (AP) – World shares were mixed yesterday ahead of key central bank meetings around the world, as Germany reported that its economy contracted in the last quarter.
The Federal Reserve (Fed), the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are holding monetary policy meetings this week.
Gross domestic product, the total output of goods and services, rose 0.3 per cent in the second quarter in the 20 countries that use the euro currency, according to official figures released yesterday by European Union statistics agency Eurostat.
But Germany, the largest eurozone economy, recorded a 0.1 per cent fall in output.
France’s CAC 40 rose 0.3 per cent in early trading to 7,468.36, while Germany’s DAX added 0.4 per cent to 18,387.13. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.5 per cent to 8,254.55. The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged 0.1 per cent higher.
In Asian trading, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 reversed earlier losses to rise 0.2 per cent and finish at 38,525.95. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 per cent to 7,953.20. South Korea’s Kospi shed one per cent to 2,738.19. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng slipped 1.4 per cent to 17,002.91, while the Shanghai Composite index declined 0.4 per cent to 2,879.30.
“Markets may be having a tough time positioning the central bank meetings this week,” Jing Yi Tan of Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.
In Japan, the government reported the nation’s unemployment rate in June stood at 2.5 per cent, inching down from 2.6 per cent the previous month, and marking the first improvement in five months.
On Monday, The S&P 500 edged up 0.1 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 per cent. The Nasdaq composite added 0.1 per cent.
Several of Wall Street’s biggest names are set to report their results later this week, including Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Apple and Amazon. Their stock movements carry extra weight on Wall Street because they are among the market’s largest by total value.
Such Big Tech stocks drove the S&P 500 to dozens of records this year, in part on investors’ frenzy around artificial intelligence technology, but they ran out of momentum this month amid criticism they have grown too expensive, and as alternatives began to look more attractive.
