Stockmarkets around the world fell in response to fears of monetary tightening in China – but a late surge on Wall Street again pushed indexes above the line for a third day.Financial stocks rose on bullish comments from the Citigroup CEO, offsettin
Stockmarkets around the world fell in response to fears of monetary tightening in China – but a late surge on Wall Street again pushed indexes above the line for a third day.
Financial stocks rose on bullish comments from the Citigroup CEO, offsetting mixed economic data of disappointing US domestic jobs data and a narrower trade deficit.
China's consumer price index rose a higher-than-expected 2.7% in February and industrial production surged 20.7% in the first two months of 2009. This is likely to bring further tightening moves by monetary authorities in Beijing.
The number of idled US workers applying for jobless benefits fell 6000 last week, a positive sign for the labour market and the economy, although the weekly decline was smaller than the 9000 drop economists had expected.
The US trade deficit narrowed unexpectedly, decreasing 6.6% to $US37.29 billion in January, though the vale of exports and imports fell. Wall Street expectations were for a $US41 billion shortfall.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 44.51 points, or 0.4%, up at 10,611.84. The Dow's industrial and more economically sensitive components were among its worst performers, with 3M down 1%, Caterpillar off 0.8% and General Electric down 0.7%.
The Nasdaq Composite finished 0.4% higher at 2368.46. The S&P 500-stock index also rose 0.4% to 1150.24. The materials sector was weak on concerns about lower demand from China.
Other markets
European stocks closed lower as investors shared concerns about China. BHP Billiton fell 2.1% on the London Stock Exchange and Rio Tinto lost 1.6%.
In the oil and gas sector, BP declined 0.2% after it said that it would buy the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, Brazil and Azerbaijan assets of Devon Energy for $US7 billion.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.3% to 257.55, while the UK's FTSE 100 Index fell 0.4% to 5617.26, France's CAC-40 Index declined 0.4% to 3928.98, and Germany's DAX eased 0.1% to 5928.63.
In Asia, Japanese stocks ended higher as stronger overseas markets and a weaker yen set the table for a bullish performance, led by Sony and other technology-related shares.
The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 companies rose 1% to 10,664.95, finishing both at its intraday high and high point for the week.
Most other Asian markets moved less than 1% either up or down as the Chinese economic data sparked fresh worries of a monetary clampdown.
Commodities: Oil, gold steady
Oil prices were near unchanged after futures on Wednesday jumped above $US83 a barrel to an eight-week high on increased US demand.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery settled 2USc up at $US82.11 a barrel in New York. Brent crude on the ICE futures exchange were 20USc lower, or 0.3%, at $US80.28 a barrel.
Gold futures were under further pressure after Wednesday’s large plunge, hit by worries China will have to tighten monetary policy, but later rose to settle virtually unchanged.
April gold was up 10USc to $US1108.20 an ounce in New York, while the March contract was up 20USc at $US1108.00 an ounce.
Currencies: Dollar down, pound up
The US dollar weakened slightly against the euro and yen after a mixed US trade report fed both optimism and pessimism about the pace of the US economic recovery.
The euro had jumped initial after the trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed, but it reversed course after investors dug into the details of the report, such as the 0.3% decline in exports and the 1.7% decline in imports.
The euro strengthened to $US1.3669 from $US1.3651 late on Wednesday.
The dollar moved to ¥90.51 from ¥90.54. The euro was at ¥123.72 from ¥123.59. The UK pound strengthened to $US1.5048 from $US1.4970.
