World stocks down amid US debt, euro uncertainty

[July 21, 2011]  BEIJING (AP) -- World stock markets were mostly down Thursday after China's manufacturing contracted and uncertain traders watched for progress on the U.S. government debt limit and Europe's debt crisis.

Oil prices fell below $98 a barrel as a stalemate dragged on among U.S. lawmakers over raising the debt ceiling.

In early European trading, the FTSE 100 index was down 0.3 percent at 5,835.24. Germany's DAX lost 0.6 percent to 7,177.43 and France's CAC-40 slipped 0.1 percent to 3,749.42.

Wall Street was set for a lackluster open. Dow futures were nearly unchanged at 12,512 and S&P futures dropped 0.1 percent to 12,571.91.

Japan's Nikkei 225 closed up less than 0.1 percent at 10,010.3 after spending most of the day in negative territory. China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 1 percent to 2,765.89 while Hong Kong's Hang Seng closed down 0.1 percent at 21,987.2.

Trading was lackluster amid concern about the debt ceiling talks in Washington and a European Union meeting Thursday on the continent's debt crisis, said Jackson Wong, vice president of Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.

"Without either of these two major overhangs being resolved, I don't think markets will go anywhere," Wong said.

Seoul's Kospi fell 0.5 percent to 2,145.04. Taipei, Singapore and Bombay declined while Sydney was up.

Asian concern over the U.S. debt talks was in contrast to Western markets that rallied Wednesday after reports of progress in Washington in raising the government's $14.3 trillion debt limit to avoid a default.

China's stocks were hurt by a report Thursday that Chinese manufacturing activity fell to a 28-month low in July following repeated rate hikes and other measures to cool an overheated economy. HSBC Corp.'s manufacturing index fell to 47.2 from June's 50.1 on a 100-point scale on which numbers below 50 show activity declining.

"China is one of the only countries deliberately trying to slow its growth," said Ben Potter of IG Markets in a report. "If need be, it can turn the tap on just as fast as it's being turned off."

CNOOC Ltd., one of China's three main state-owned oil and gas producers, was down 3.9 percent following its announcement Wednesday it will buy a Canadian oil sands producer for $2.1 billion.

In the U.S. on Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 0.1 percent while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index was flat.

In currencies, the dollar declined to 78.81 yen from 79.06 on Wednesday, while the euro gained to $1.424 from $1.419.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was down 46 cents to $97.94 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 54 cents to settle at $98.40 on Wednesday.

In London, the September contract for Brent crude rose 15 cents to $118.30 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

[Associated Press; By JOE McDONALD]

Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed.

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