INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
The dollar gained and global equity markets rose on Friday on upbeat US economic data while amicable messages from Chinese President Xi
Jinping and US President Donald Trump helped defuse tensions over the prolonged US-Sino trade war.
Government bond yields mostly rose as US
manufacturing output accelerated in November to its fastest pace in seven months and a survey of purchasing managers showed services
activity also picked up more than expected.
Equity markets warmed to China's renewed offer to reach a trade agreement with the United
Xi said China wants to work out an initial pact and avoid a trade war.
Trump reciprocated, saying a trade deal with China is "potentially
very close" and also that he stands with both the people of Hong Kong and Xi amid massive protests in the former British colony.
MSCI's
gauge of stocks across the globe inched up 0.16 per cent, with the pan-European STOXX 600 index closing up 0.44 per cent.
On Wall Street,
the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 109.33 points, or 0.39 per cent, to 27,875.62
The S-P 500 gained 6.75 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 3,110.29 and the Nasdaq Composite added 13.67 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 8,519.89.
A
6.14 per cent slump in shares of Tesla Inc weighed on Nasdaq as its electric pickup truck design received an underwhelming response.
"What
you've seen is a market, even when the trade news wasn't that great, you've seen the equity market still remaining extraordinarily
well-bid," said Joseph LaVorgna, chief economist for the Americas at French bank Natixis in New York.
"People got way too pessimistic about
The outlook in my opinion over the next year is much better than it was," LaVorgna said.
The dollar index , which compares the dollar
against six major currencies, was up 0.27 per cent at 98.256
The euro fell 0.32 per cent against the greenback after a survey showed euro zone business growth almost ground to a halt this month, with
IHS Markit's flash November composite Purchasing Managers' Index sliding closer to the 50 mark separating growth from contraction.
IHS
Markit's final Purchasing Managers' index readings also showed German business conditions waned further.
After the upbeat US data, most US
Treasury yields edged higher
The benchmark 10-year US Treasury note was little changed with its yield at 1.7706 per cent
Treasury yields had tracked the decline in Europe amid weak numbers in the region and on nagging doubts about US-China trade.
"There's
skepticism about what Trump says, especially with more US tariffs set to kick in on Dec
15," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.
Tariffs can be delayed,
Mendelsohn said, "but there's so much pessimism coming out of China at this point in time, it's very hard to tell what's real and
what's really going on."
Safe-haven German government bond yields had their biggest daily fall in over a week and were last down 3.6 basis
points at -0.364 per cent
Oil prices pulled back from two-month highs as doubts over the trade talks overshadowed expectations of an extension to production cuts by
the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
Brent crude futures settled down 58 cents to $63.39 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 81 cents to settle at
$57.77.
US gold futures settled unchanged at $1,463.60 per ounce.
