Asia
Markets in Asia Pacific lacked strong direction on Tuesday morning without any impetus from global events or US stock markets, which managed to break a recent losing streak on Monday. China's CSI 300 closed up less than 0.5% higher at 3752.30, while the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong rose less than 1% at 27,401 points. Japan’s key indices, the Nikkei 225 and the Topix, were largely unchanged amid a dearth of economic pointers.
In Chinese business news, the country’s largest commercial property firm Dalian Wanda (DWNDF) has reportedly pulled out of a deal to build 20,000 luxury homes in south London amid a crackdown on overseas investments by the country’s rulers.
Europe
Europe’s continental bourses were in positive territory in mid-morning trading, with Germany’s Dax, France’s Cac and the EuroStoxx 50 all slightly higher on the day. The stock markets shrugged off a drop in the eurozone confidence barometer, the ZEW survey, from 35.6 in July to 29.3 in August. Germany’s version of the ZEW missed forecasts in the same period, coming in at 10, against 17.5 in the previous month. Some more positive economic news for the UK government came in the form of a July surplus in public sector borrowing, the first since 2002.
It was an active morning for UK corporate announcements – and with positive sentiment towards the commodity sector following strong results from copper-miner Antofagasta ANTO) and BHP Billiton (BLT) overnight, the FTSE 100 was up 0.6% at 7366.7 points.
Britain’s largest housebuilder Persimmon (PSN), a widely held high dividend stock, affirmed the resilience of the UK housing market in the face of a range of economic threats. The company’s pre-tax profits rose 30% to £457.4 million in the first half of the year, with home sales, sale prices and completions all higher in the period.
Shares in doorstep lender Provident Financial Group (PFG) crashed over 60% after another profit warning.
North America
In terms of economic data, the consumer is very much in focus on Tuesday. Canadian retail sales for June are due, with a forecast increase of 0.2% month on month. US house prices for the same month will also be released. US companies reporting include Medtronic (MDT), which develops medical equipment technology, San Francisco-based cloud computing firm Salesforce (CRM), small business tax and accountancy software firm Intuit (INTU).