NEW YORK: European shares were steady to slightly higher in thin holiday season trading on Wednesday, buoyed by a rise in commodity prices and a firmer showing on Wall Street.
London’s FTSE 100 index, driven by strong gains in mining stocks, ended the session 0.4 percent higher at a new closing high of 7,620.68 points.
In the eurozone, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 and the CAC 40 in Paris were more or less flat, while US stocks scored gains, albeit modest ones.
The S&P 500 moved up 0.1 percent after consumer confidence in December retreated from a 17-year peak the prior month, but remained strong.
Wall Street equity indices remain within striking distance of all-time records amid solid US economic data and bullish sentiment in the wake of the massive tax cut supported by President Donald Trump.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said the week between Christmas and New Year “is often very quiet. With the US having got tax reform over the line last week and kicked the budget issue back to January at the last minute, investors have been left with little to turn their attention to.”
Naeem Aslam, analyst at Think Markets UK, said the “thin volume trading is a general theme across the markets.”
“Most traders are away on their holiday and we do not expect much action in the markets, however, the general portfolio rebalancing trade would be the most common feature between now and the end of this year.”
London’s top seven performers were all miners, with Fresnillo leading the pack with a two-percent rise as copper prices hit a three-year high.
British-listed shares of BP and Royal Dutch Shell also gained, although US-listed petroleum producers later pulled back as oil prices retreated amid profit taking.
Among individual companies, Tesla Motors lost 1.8 percent after a report from KeyBanc predicted the electric carmaker’s Model 3 deliveries would disappoint.
Shares in Hyundai Heavy Industries of Korea plunged by more than a quarter after it announced a plan to raise 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion) by issuing new shares as it released a grim earnings forecast for this year, in which its sales would sink to 15.3 trillion won from 39.3 trillion won in 2016,
Hyundai and other South Korean shipbuilding giants have been forced to shed tens of thousands of jobs and sell assets in recent years as a slump in oil prices and global economic slowdown sapped demand for tankers and container ships.
Source: Brecorder.com
