Oil prices jumped nearly four per cent yesterday on bets Opec members will agree to cut output while stocks edged higher, led by technology shares that had fallen recently.

The US dollar index held above the 100 level and touched a fresh 11-month high, and Treasuries prices were little changed with yields near multi-month highs.

The S&P 500 traded higher, led by recent decliners including Apple, Facebook and Alphabet.

Bank stocks were the largest weight on Wall Street. They had been recent gainers on the expectation that the incoming Donald Trump administration would bring in less regulation and spark inflation through higher spending.

Tech stocks had been sold off in favour of sectors with lower valuations on the expectation of a spike in economic growth.

“We’re sort of poised for a little bit of a pullback here as people reassess what the new administration is likely to accomplish,” said Scott Brown, chief economist at Raymond James in St Petersburg, Florida. “The uncertainty is going to hang over the markets for a while. So we may see a lot of this back and forth.”

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 40.06 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 18,828.63, the S&P 500 gained 7.21 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 2,171.41 and the Nasdaq Composite added 42.04 points, or 0.81 per cent, to 5,260.44.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index gained 0.27 per cent, while MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe ticked up 0.3 per cent.

Oil producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries are due to meet later this month to agree to limit output, and hopes on a deal boosted prices. An outline deal was reached in September but negotiations on the detail are proving difficult, officials say.

US crude was up 4.3 per cent at $45.16 a barrel and Brent last traded at $46.16, up 3.9 per cent on the day.

“Clearly the market is now seeing increased chances of an Opec production cut,” Commerzbank analysts said in a note. “There is doubtless considerable pressure to take action, as the oversupply will not reduce itself.”

Copper, which rallied nearly 20 per cent over the three weeks to Friday, fell 1.2 per cent to $5,495.00 a tonne.

The dollar index was in and out of negative territory for the day but remained near the 100 level and touched its highest since December.

The greenback had support from data showing US retail sales rose more than expected in October, pointing to sustained economic strength that could allow the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates next month.

The euro edged down 0.05 per cent to $1.0729, having strengthened as far as $1.0816 while the yen weakened 0.5 per cent to 108.92 per dollar.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose -2/32 in price to yield 2.2295 per cent, down from 2.222 per cent.

Spot gold gained 0.4 per cent to $1,224.46 an ounce. US gold futures rose 0.2 per cent to $1,224.20 an ounce.

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