iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
‘A significant number of cars damaged during last week’s rains may not be covered for natural disasters such as flooding’
KT APPDOWNLOAD
World shares rebound after two-day losses on Fed fears
LONDON - Stocks rebounded on Friday after two days of losses sparked by fears the US Federal Reserve would abandon its super-easy monetary policy sooner than many in the markets were predicting.
A solid German economic survey also shored up trading through the European session. The Ifo index rose to 107.4 in February from 104.3 the previous month. It was the fourth monthly increase in a row and well above the 104.9 points expected by financial market analysts.
“The Ifo index now looks consistent with annual German GDP growth of around two per cent,” said Jennifer McKeown, a senior European economist at Capital Economics.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.7 per cent at 6,338 while Germany’s DAX rose 0.9 per cent to 7,651. The CAC-40 in France was 1.6 per cent higher at 3,682.
Wall Street was poised for a solid opening with Dow futures up 0.3 per cent and the broader S&P 500 futures 0.4 per cent higher.
The pick-up comes after a sizeable sell-off, which started in the second half of Wall Street’s trading session on Wednesday following the release of the minutes to the last policy meeting of the Fed.
The minutes showed some policymakers worried about the cost of the bank’s monetary stimulus, which triggered speculation that the asset purchases it has been conducting would end sooner than anticipated. The purchases, commonly known as quantitative easing, are designed to boost the US economy, partly by increasing liquidity in financial markets and by keeping a lid on interest rates in the bond markets.
Those concerns remain about future US monetary policy remains. And others have the potential to bring an end to the prevailing optimism that has marked 2013 out so far in the markets.
This weekend’s Italian elections could stoke renewed worries over Europe’s debt crisis especially if there is a protracted period before a government is formed. Fears over the US budget are also never far from the surface.
Earlier, the Asian heavyweight, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index, recovered to gain 0.7 per cent to 11,385.94. The region’s biggest economy, China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.5 per cent to 2,314.15. Elsewhere, Seoul’s Kospi gained 0.2 per cent to 2,018.89 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.5 per cent to 22,782.44.
In currency markets, the euro was down 0.1 per cent at $1.3179 while the dollar fell the same rate to ¥93.20.
More news from
As normalcy resumes at the airport, a few volunteers would continue to be stationed at the airport for a few more days
Thousands of employees across the aviation sector worked together to restore operations and support guests at both DXB and DWC
With their luggage missing, the youngsters entered the competition without their UAE jerseys — but what they didn’t lack was the motivation to perform for the country
Addition of A380 significantly boosts Etihad's capacity in the US market, providing connections to Middle East and Indian subcontinent
Suhail underwent a six-month intensive treatment at Abu Dhabi’s Al Mushrif Children’s Specialty Centre
Amid easing tensions over the conflict in the Middle East, the focus will remain on the outlook for when the Federal Reserve may begin to ease policy rates
Nine hundred million shares will be made available in the IPO, representing 25 per cent of the supermarket franchise's total issued share capital
