Asia
Falls on the Dow Jones and S&P 500 on Friday did not spark a widespread selloff in Asia-Pacific equities on Monday, but China’s stock market did reflect some of the anxieties over a potential trade war with the United States. Japan was the exception as a dip in the yen against the dollar was enough to spur buying in Nikkei 225 stocks. The index was up just under 1%, as was Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index.
Europe
With the Easter break approaching movements in the UK markets were modest: in midmorning trading the FTSE 100 was a touch higher with banks and miners in the ascendant. After last week’s strong run, the British pound looked to start the week on a similar footing, with further gains against the dollar and to a lesser extent against the euro.
Packaging firm Smurfit Kappa (SKG) was once again in the spotlight as the company rebuffed another offer from International Paper. Its shares were off nearly 4% in midmorning trading, making them the biggest faller in the FTSE 100 index. Fresnillo (FRES) was at the opposite end of the leaderboard, surging nearly 5% after analysts upgraded the stock to a “buy”.
Eurozone exchanges were modestly higher as investors remained cautious amid the tense geopolitical background. Quarter-four growth in the French economy was 2.5% higher than in Q4 2016 and 0.7% higher quarter on quarter.
North America
US Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin appeared to talk down the prospect of a trade war with China at the weekend amid hopes that a deal can be reached between the two countries without the US imposing tariffs. S&P futures suggest that US markets will start this week on a more positive footing after last week’s falls.
China specifically named Apple (AAPL) as one of the US companies that would be most affected by retaliatory action if President Trump imposed tariffs – while the tech giant’s shares fell over 2% on Friday, they rebounded by a similar amount in after-hours trading. With Facebook (FB) still engulfed in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the company’s shares lost further ground after the market closed.
This week sees the third estimate of the US economy’s growth in the fourth quarter of last year – the forecast is for a rise of 2.7% against the previous quarter.
Canada’s GDP for January will also be in focus later in the week – economic growth is expected to be nearly 3% higher than in January 2017.