Stock markets around the world were little changed yesterday, paring early advances though equities remained on track for a week of strong gains and Alibaba rallied in its trading debut.
Equities pulled back from an early advance, pressured by weakness in large-cap technology shares, though the recent upward trend remained intact.
The day’s early gains, which took the Dow and S&P 500 to fresh records, came after Scotland voted to remain in the UK, removing the risk that independence would diminish the United Kingdom’s standing in the world and sow financial, economic and political uncertainty during months of negotiations.
Separately, Alibaba Group jumped 33 per cent to $90.42 in its debut as one of the biggest IPOs in history. More than 100 million shares changed hands in composite trading in the first 10 minutes of trading.
“The biggest risks to the market are geopolitical or a real sharp rise in rates,” said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.
“The first one is hard to predict and the second doesn’t seem imminent; I guess investors will stay [invested in equities] for a while to come.”
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 25.15 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 17,291.14, the S&P 500 lost 1.06 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 2,010.3 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 24.00 points, or 0.52 per cent, to 4,569.43.
Because Alibaba is traded on the New York Stock Exchange and is not a component of either the Dow or the S&P, its advance had no impact on the broader market. Yahoo Inc, which has a large stake in Alibaba, fell 4.8 per cent to $40.06, while Oracle Corp lost 4.6 per cent to $39.63 a day after its results.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury note was up 9/32, the yield at 2.5963 per cent.
MSCI’s global share index dipped 0.2 per cent but remained on track for a fifth weekly gain in the last six, as were major US indexes.
Equities have been boosted of late by further assurances that interest rates are likely to remain at record lows in many major economies for some time.
US shares of Royal Bank of Scotland rose 1.3 per cent while an index of European shares ended up 0.3 per cent.
The dollar index, which tracks the currency against a basket of six peers, rose 0.5 per cent to 84.77, near its strongest level in more than four years. The euro shed 0.7 per cent to $1.2834.
Brent crude rose 0.5 per cent to $98.20 per barrel while US crude slipped 0.8 per cent to $92.31.
Traditional safe-haven gold fell 0.7 per cent while silver lost 2.9 per cent in its biggest one-day decline since January. Copper dipped 0.1 per cent.