|
 Oil prices fell as worries after Kuwaiti workers ended a three-day
strike that had halved the nation's crude output [O/R]. That revived
the bearish mood brought last weekend when major producers failed to
agree on a cut in output.
Global stock markets initially fell, but the FTSEurofirst 300 index
of top European shares recovered to edge into positive territory.
U.S. equity futures also rose. The MSCI All-Country World index was
flat.
The ECB is not expected to make any policy changes at its meeting on
Thursday. But it is expected to reiterate its plans to support the
euro zone economy, which was enough to steady markets, analysts
said.
"Investors have realized that the Doha meeting was a flop.
Nevertheless, one cannot deny that buying momentum in stock markets
remains present, which should prevent equity indexes from losing too
much ground," said Mirabaud Securities' senior equity sales trader
John Plassard.
"This should be even more evident given the ECB meeting tomorrow
which could again keep up that momentum," he added.
[to top of second column] |
Commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and Canadian
dollars also approached recent peaks on Wednesday while German bund
yields dipped. [FRX/] [GVD/EUR]
"Bund auctions are usually an accident-prone event, but today there
are no signs of any risks whatsoever and that's certainly
encouraging heading into the ECB meeting," said David Schnautz, a
Commerzbank interest rate strategist.
(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag, Simon Falush and Dhara
Ranasinghe in London, and Wayne Cole in Sydney; editing by Larry
King)
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