Shares edge up as economies look to reopen

[April 29, 2020]  By Tom Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) - World shares eked out slim gains on Wednesday, with optimism over economies easing coronavirus lockdowns and rebounding oil prices leavened by a mixed picture on corporate earnings.

MSCI's world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS>, which tracks shares in 49 countries, ticked up 0.1%, with European shares flat by late morning in choppy trading.

Wall Street futures <ESc1> were up 0.7%, helped by forecast-beating revenues from Alphabet Inc's Google <GOOGL.O>.

The broad Euro STOXX 600 <.STOXX> lost grounds as defensive stocks - sectors such as healthcare <.SXDP> and personal and household goods <.SXQP> - dropped between 1% and 1.7%.

Major drugmakers Roche <ROG.S> and Novartis <NOVN.S> fell 2.5% and 1.4% respectively, balanced by gains for BP <BP.L>, Total <TOTF.PA> and Royal Dutch Sell <RDSA.AS> as crude prices climbed as much as 15%.

Major indexes were varied: Frankfurt <.GDAXI> gained 0.3% while Paris <.FCHI> slipped 0.4%. London's benchmark <.FTSE> rose 0.7%, boosted by gains for lenders Barclays <BARC.L> and Standard Chartered <STAN.L>.

"The market is broadly buying stocks on the hope of the recovery and focusing on the eventual winners of this part of the cycle related to COVID-19, and then the structural winners," said Sebastien Galy, a strategist at Nordea.

Riskier assets, including equities, have rallied for most of this month thanks to heavy doses of fiscal and monetary policy stimulus around the globe aimed at softening the economic blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Investors across the world are growing confident the pandemic may be peaking as parts of the United States, Europe and Australia gradually ease restrictions. New Zealand this week allowed some businesses to reopen.

Still, Europe's quarterly results have continued to deteriorate, with Refinitiv data pointing to a 40.4% decline in earnings for companies listed on the STOXX 600, versus 37% a week ago.

Airbus <AIR.PA> posted a 49% slump in first-quarter core profit, with planemakers, airlines and suppliers have been left reeling by the pandemic.

Some bright spots were evident, though.

German automaker Volkswagen <VOWGp.DE> said it expected a full-year profit even after a plunge in first-quarter earnings and Daimler <DAIGn.DE> was also eyeing an operating profit for its Mercedes-Benz Cars & Vans unit.

Earlier, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan <.MIAPJ0000PUS> gained 1% to a near two-month peak.

The London Stock Exchange Group offices are seen in the City of London, Britain, December 29, 2017. REUTERS/Toby Melville

CRUDE REBOUNDS

Hopes the moves would help revive energy demand sent U.S. crude futures <CLc1> up about 15% to $14.12 a barrel, paring a 27% plunge over the first two days of this week. [O/R]

Brent crude <LCOc1> futures rose 5% to $21.47 a barrel.

The moves also emboldened bets on riskier currencies, keeping the dollar on the back foot, with the greenback falling 0.1% to 99.760 against a basket of currencies <=USD>.

The euro <EUR=> was flat at $1.0860, though the euro index <=EUR> eased after Fitch cut Italy's credit rating to BBB-, just one notch above "junk" status. Italy's government bond yields rose after the cut.

Some analysts were circumspect about the rally in stocks, noting a concentration among tech and IT stocks.

"We were actually seeing a big dislocation in performance in the new world - the tech thing - and the old economy of industrials reliant on human costs," said Olivier Marciot, portfolio manager at Unigestion.

Investors are now watching out for results from the other major tech firms including Amazon <AMZN.O> and Apple <AAPL.O>. Earnings from Facebook <FB.O> and Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> are due later in the day.

The gains have come even as analysts predict a sharp contraction in world growth.

Moody's expects economies of the group of 20 advanced nations (G20) to shrink 5.8% this year with momentum unlikely to recover to pre-coronavirus levels even in 2021.

Markets were next looking for any guidance from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which is due to issue a policy statement around 1800 GMT after its two-day meeting. The European Central Bank meets on Thursday.

Analysts said it was unlikely the Fed would make further major policy moves, given the scope and depth of its efforts to counter the economic damage caused by the coronavirus.

(Reporting by Tom Wilson in London and Swati Pandey in Sydney; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Andrew Cawthorne and Alex Richardson)

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