Global Equities Burst Higher On Trade Deal

Global equities rose Friday as investors, still buoyed by a landmark China-US trade deal, turned their focus to the earnings season and the global outlook, while also cheered by Chinese economic data

London, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Jan, 2020 ) :Global equities rose Friday as investors, still buoyed by a landmark China-US trade deal, turned their focus to the earnings season and the global outlook, while also cheered by Chinese economic data.

European markets were all up after news that China's economy appears to be stabilising.

"China released some broadly positive economic reports, which has boosted sentiment around the globe," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden.

Wall Street sentiment was also upbeat at the US open, with indices building on record highs reached Thursday on the back of the trade deal and Google parent Alphabet joining Apple and microsoft to become a trillion-dollar firm for the first time.

The Dollar rose against its peers.

The positive energy had earlier funnelled through to Asia, where the main stock markets ended the week on an upbeat note.

Apart from last week's blip caused by the US assassination of Iran's top general, markets have enjoyed a strong start to the new decade, building on the rally of late 2019.

The gains have been fanned by the "phase one" trade agreement as well as signs of improvement in worldwide economies, lower interest rates, government stimulus and easing Brexit concerns.

And with the prospect of a healthy batch of company reports, there are hopes for further advances.

"It's very hard to be bearish here," Linda Duessel, at Federated Investors Management, told Bloomberg tv. "We could have really good earnings surprises to the upside" as more profit reports roll in, she said.

- China growth - Beijing added to the mood, releasing data that said the world's number two economy expanded by 6.1 percent last year.

While that is the slowest pace in three decades and well down from 6.6 percent in 2018, it is in line with expectations and the government's target.

The six percent growth for October-December was the same as the previous quarter, while traders were also cheered by figures showing a better-than-forecast rise in retail sales, industrial output and investment.

The slowdown in growth in China has been a major headache for investors for the past few years as the country's leaders struggle with the US trade war, slowing global demand and a worrying debt mountain.

- Key figures at 1435 GMT - London - FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 7,678.42 points Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.6 percent at 13,515.22 Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.0 percent at 6,101.03 EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.9 percent at 3,806.61 New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 29,318.49 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.5 percent at 24,041.26 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.6 percent at 29,056.42 (close) Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 3,075.50 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1101 from $1.1137 at 2200 GMT Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3044 from $1.3080 Euro/pound: DOWN at 85.10 pence from 85.15 pence Dollar/yen: UP at 110.20 Yen from 110.16 yenBrent Crude: UP 0.5 percent at $64.91 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: UP 0.4 percent at $58.77