LDN - Business

World shares roar higher on U.S.-China trade deal hopes

[November 02, 2018] By Marc Jones

LONDON (Reuters) - World share markets roared higher on Friday as hopes built that the United States and China were starting to repair their badly damaged trade relations.

The signals triggered a global surge in risk appetite that lifted metals and swathes of trade-sensitive currencies and bond markets, but it was equities that saw the most explosive action.

A jubilant Asian session, that included 2.5-4 percent leaps for most of region's big bourses, put the world's main emerging market index <.MSCIEF> up three percent and on course for its best day and week since early 2016.

Europe was overjoyed too. Germany's export-heavy DAX <.GDAXI> jumped 1.5 percent in its best start since July, while Wall Street futures <ESc1> were also up almost one percent ahead of the monthly installment of non-farm payrolls jobs data. [.EU]

"When Trump wants to bump the market ahead of the mid-terms the market likes it," Saxo Bank's head of FX strategy John Hardy referring to next week's mid-term U.S. elections.

Hardy said while it might just be "political theater" from Trump for now, the real test would come when he and China's President Xi Jinping meet at a summit of world leaders later this month in Argentina.

The other key focus meanwhile is if U.S. earnings numbers are strong later and whether that then sends 10 and 30-year U.S. bond yields punching up toward 3.5 percent.

Europe's bond yields rose were already on the rise and a Reuters poll shows economists expect a 190,000 rise in U.S. jobs and see hourly earnings increasing 0.2 percent having climbed 0.3 percent in September.

Those numbers will follow data this week that has revealed slowing factory growth around the world, but for the day at least those worries were being soothed by the brighter U.S.-China mood.

In currency markets, the hopes saw the dollar dip to a week-low <.DXY> though it held its ground against the safe-haven yen at 113.00 yen <JPY=>.

China's yuan strengthened to a high of 6.9092 per dollar in onshore markets <CNY=CFXS> and also firmed in offshore trade <CNH=D4>, pulling away from the sensitive seven level.

[to top of second column]

The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, October 25, 2018. REUTERS/Staff

The euro also edged up 0.15 percent to $1.1426 <EUR=> while the Australian dollar gained 0.5 percent to $0.7240 <AUD=D4> and sterling made ground again to $1.30 on hopes London is closing in on transitional deal for when it leaves the EU next year.

If it doesn't slip it will be the second best week of the year for the pound. Thursday was its best day of the year.

"Were it not for Brexit uncertainty, the Bank of England would probably have laid the groundwork (at its meeting on Thursday) for its next rate hike," BNP Paribas analysts said in a note.

STRONG METALS

Metals led the charge in the commodity markets on the hopes a trade deal will prevent China's resource-hungry economy faltering.

Three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange <CMCU3> climbed as much as 2.5 percent to $6,240.50 a ton, its highest in a week.

Other base metals were up across the board too, with zinc <CMZN3> rising 1.8 percent, nickel <CMNI3> climbing 1.7 percent, lead <CMPB3> up 1.3 percent and aluminum <CMAL3> gaining 0.9 percent.

Oil prices were less energetic but had managed to reverse early Asian losses, with U.S. crude <CLc1> last at $63.63 a barrel and Brent crude <LCOc1> a touch higher at $72.99.

(Additional Reporting by Tommy Wilkes in London and Andrew Galbraith in Shanghai and Hideyuki Sano in Tokyo, Editing by William Maclean)

Back to top