World shares were mostly higher on Monday as China’s leaders began a major meeting expected to bring fresh pledges of help for the world’s second-largest economy. Oil prices gained more than $1 a barrel after reports that production cuts would be extended until the end of the year. U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $1.41 to $70.90 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Brent crude, the international standard, picked up $1.37 to $74.47 a barrel. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1% to 19,228.81, while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1% lower to 7,401.11. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.3% to 8,199.56.
The future for the S&P 500 inched up 0.1% while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%. The Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress is meeting this week, and analysts were predicting the government may endorse major spending initiatives to boost the economy. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 0.3% to 20,567.52, while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 1.2% to 3,310.21.
Markets in Tokyo were closed for a holiday.
China leaders plan economic boost
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.6% to 8,164.60, and the Kospi in Seoul jumped 1.8% to 2,588.97.
Taiwan’s Taiex advanced 0.8%, while the Sensex in India tumbled 1.7%. On Friday, U.S. stock indexes were led higher, bolstered by expectations of an interest rate cut next week. The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, recovering somewhat from the day before, its worst in eight weeks.
The Dow industrials added 0.7%, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.8%. Treasury yields pushed higher after a report said U.S. employers added only 12,000 workers to their payrolls last month, far short of the 115,000 that economists were expecting. A separate report mentioned U.S. manufacturing contracted last month more than economists had expected.
The prevailing expectation on Wall Street remains for the Federal Reserve to cut its main interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point next week. The hope is that the economy will still avoid a recession, despite the slowdown in the job market, due to the expected interest rate cuts by the Fed. In early currency dealings Monday, the dollar slipped to 152.17 Japanese yen from 152.42 yen late Friday.
The euro rose to $1.0894 from $1.0881.
