A gauge of world stocks was little changed yesterday, as an advance in European shares faded and US equities dipped, while the US dollar slipping to near 13-month lows against other major currencies.
European shares initially saw a boost from gains in HSBC, as Europe’s biggest bank unveiled a five per cent rise in profits in the first six months of this year and its third share buyback in a year, underlining progress in its turnaround plan.
Its shares gained nearly four per cent in London trading and were last up 1.7 per cent.
On Wall Street, banks were also a bright spot, with the S&P financial index up 0.43 per cent as the best performing of the 11 major sectors, although equities overall lost some ground.
Mining companies in London received a boost, with an index of their shares up 0.42 per cent as copper hit a fresh two-year high after Chinese data showed that while manufacturing growth cooled slightly this month, a government infrastructure push kept construction moving.
“Their credit markets are actually curtailing issuance and defaults are down,” said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.
“So perhaps they are able to execute that reduced reliance on credit and still grow their economy.”
Copper rose 0.70 per cent to $6,369.50 a tonne, having risen as high as $6,430.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.08 per cent and MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04 per cent.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.78 points, or 0.28 percent, to 21,891.09, the S&P 500 lost 2.35 points, or 0.10 per cent, to 2,469.75 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 27.21 points, or 0.43 per cent, to 6,347.47.
Shares of tobacco companies continued to weigh, after the US Food and Drug Administration proposed on Friday to cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.
British American Tobacco fell 4.2 per cent, after dropping 6.8 per cent on Friday, and Imperial Brands fell 5.8 per cent. In the US, Altria Group, off 3.1 and Philip Morris, down 1.2 were among the top drags on the S&P 500.
The dollar index fell 0.14 per cent, with the euro up 0.33 per cent to $1.1789.
Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 2/32 in price to yield 2.2942 per cent, from 2.287 percent late on Friday ahead of a heavy week of data, which will culminate in Friday’s employment report for July.
Oil prices retreated after hitting two-month highs.
Oil earlier climbed as news of a producers’ meeting next week added to bullish sentiment driven by the threat of US sanctions against Opec-member Venezuela.
US crude fell 0.84 per cent to $49.29 per barrel and Brent was last at $51.89, down 0.63 per cent on the day.