Stocks edged up on Wall Street yesterday, not enough to lift a global equities index, while crude futures hit a week high after a smaller-than-expected build in US inventories.
The euro slipped after Reuters reported European Central Bank policymakers are wary of making any new change to their policy message in April.
Weighing on the euro and pound, Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain’s divorce from the European Union, a decision pitching her country into the unknown. On Tuesday, the Scottish Parliament backed a bid to hold an independence referendum that could break up the UK, adding another layer of uncertainty for investors.
Gains in the energy sector, up more than one per cent, kept the S&P 500 afloat, while none of the other 10 sectors moved more than a half a per cent up or down.
Wall Street rose on Tuesday, with the Dow snapping an eight-day losing streak after a jump in consumer data boosted hopes in a stronger US economy. Yesterday, contracts to buy previously owned US homes jumped to a 10-month high in February.
“The big talk of the day is Britain’s official request to leave the EU, which we think is likely to be a counter balance for the markets for many days to come,” wrote in a note Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial in New York.
“We see US oil prices moving towards the $50 range as being the markets driving force of the day.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67.89 points, or 0.33 per cent, to 20,633.61, the S&P 500 lost 1.65 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 2,356.92 and the Nasdaq Composite added 5.01 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 5,880.15.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 0.35 per cent, while MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe fell 0.19 per cent.
Emerging market stocks rose 0.09 per cent.
Overnight, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.42 per cent while Japan’s Nikkei closed up less than 0.1 per cent.
The dollar index gained 0.37 per cent with the euro down 0.55 per cent to $1.0752. Sterling hit a one-week low of 1.2378 earlier, and was last trading at $1.2407, down 0.33 per cent.
“Sterling will be incredibly sensitive to Brexit negotiations and will offer a clear gauge of how things are panning out. We could see it move lower still if negotiations take a sour turn - $1.10 is feasible,” said Neil Wilson, senior markets analyst at ETX Capital.
Oil prices rose after US gasoline stockpiles dropped sharply last week, while crude inventories grew less than anticipated.
US crude last rose 1.9 per cent to $49.28 a barrel and Brent traded at $52.23, up 1.8 per cent on the day.