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 With little in the way of economic news later, analysts said markets
may be heading for modest gains at the end of the week when
sentiment in stock markets has rebounded from sizable declines.
Investors have been worrying about a slowdown in the global
recovery, with the U.S. economy showing distinct signs of running
out of steam.
However, on Thursday, a stable listing of commodities giant Glencore
PLC and a doubling in the share price of LinkedIn helped shore up
confidence.
"Whether these events actually mark a turning point in what has been
a rather benign period for new listings remains to be seen although
after such an absence and generally poor yields on holding cash, it
can be of little surprise that the appetite was there to start
with," said Chris Weston, an institutional trader at IG Markets.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.6
percent at 5,994 while Germany's DAX rose 0.2 percent to 7,318. The
CAC-40 in France was 0.3 percent higher at 4,039.
Wall Street was poised for a fairly steady opening -- Dow futures
were flat at 12,590 as were the broader Standard & Poor's 500
futures at 1,342.
In the currency markets, the euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.43.
With the U.S. unemployment rate still relatively high at 9 percent,
investors doubt that the U.S. Federal Reserve will be raising
interest rates anytime soon. Though the minutes to the last meeting,
published Wednesday, showed rate-setters discussing how to end the
current super-loose policy environment there are few indications
that rates will be rising in the next few months.
That's not the case in the eurozone, where the European Central Bank
has already lifted borrowing costs and is expected to do so again in
July. The differing policy approaches are the main reason why the
euro remains relatively well-supported in the markets despite
worries over Europe's debt crisis.
"Weak U.S. data has reasserted the view that U.S. monetary policy
will have to remain accommodative for many months while price data
from the eurozone has reasserted the risk that the ECB could be
hiking rates again as soon as July," said Jane Foley, senior
currency strategist at Rabobank International. "The price of the
euro will continue to balance both positive and negative attributes
of monetary union."
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 Earlier in Asia, the yen was left unmoved by the Bank of Japan's
decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged at virtually zero
in a bid to shore up the economy came as no surprise as at all. The financial authorities are trying to get the Japanese economy
back on track after figures Thursday confirmed it had slipped back
into recession in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami,
which washed away some 500 factories that produce key parts for
Japan's manufacturing industries.
By late morning London time, the dollar was 0.2 percent lower at
81.53 yen while Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed 0.1 percent lower at
9,607.08.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi gained 0.8 percent to 2,111.50 but.
Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.5 percent at 4,732.20.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was nearly 0.2 percent higher at 23,199.39 but
mainland Chinese shares edged lower as investors fretted over the
economic outlook and watched for possible new, anti-inflation
tightening measures by the country's central banks.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was narrowly down at
2,858.46, while the Shenzhen Composite Index of China's smaller,
second exchange fell 0.4 percent to 1,192.66.
The relative stability in stock markets over the past few days has
also helped commodity prices, which have had a fairly torrid time.
Benchmark crude for June delivery, for example, was up $1.07 at $100
a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
[Associated
Press; By PAN PYLAS]
Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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