Stock markets in Europe and the US were hesitant on Tuesday following Monday’s big gains and Asian stocks declined Wednesday, as investors digested fresh US efforts to encourage bank lending and avert a deep recession. The tentative return of appetite for risky assets initially boosted US and European equities. But continuing unease about the direction of the economy pushed down government bond yields, US mortgage rates and the dollar. Asian stocks were also knocked by a cut to Toyota’s debt-rating and the collapse of BHP’s bid for Rio Tinto.
Asian markets (Wed)
05:27am GMT
Nikkei down 120.79 (-1.45%) at 8,203.14
Topix down 15.63 (-1.88) at 815.95
Hang Seng up 439.74 (+3.41%) at 13,318.34
US markets (Wed)
DJIA up 36.08 (+0.43%) at 8,479.47
Nasdaq down 7.29 (-0.50%) at 1,464.73
S&P500 up 5.58 (+0.66%) at 857.39
European markets (Tues)
FTSE100 up 18.29 (+0.44%) at 4,171.25
Eurofirst 300 up 4.73 (+0.57%) at 833.36
Currencies
05:29am GMT
€/$ 1.2963 (1.2864)
$/¥ 95.11 (96.33)
£/$ 1.5338 (1.5135)
Commodities (updated)
05:30am GMT
Brent Crude (Jan09) up 0.39 at 50.74
Light Crude (Jan09) up 0.34 at 51.11
100 Oz Gold (Dec08) down 5.40 at 813.30
3M 24HR Copper down 115.00 at 3,660.00
10-year government bond yields (%)
US 3.09 (3.26)
UK 3.86 (3.92)
Germany 3.37 (3.43)
Japan 1.38 (1.42)
Sources: FT, Reuters