Global equities mixed on session

After several days of declines, European markets were mixed. Continental indices were higher, while London once again saw slight declines. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.44 percent to 1,621.74. In Madrid, the IBEX gained 0.24 percent to 15,035.7, while the Paris CAC-40 was 0.36 percent higher to 6,093.29 and the Dax was up 0.71 percent to 8,090.49 to close at a record high. In London the FTSE 100 dropped 0.01 percent to 6,649.3, while the FTSE 250 fell 0.17 percent to 11,797.5.

Wall Street was mixed as well. By midday in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up, but just barely, gaining 0.01 percent to 13,635.66. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite was 0.01 percent lower to 2,629.48, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.21 percent to 1,530.48.

Asia-Pacific equities markets were mostly higher again on Wednesday. The main exception was South Korea’s Kospi index, which dropped 1.3 percent to 1,783.79. The biggest gains came in Bangkok, where the SET index added 1.7 percent to 777.1, and in Taiwan, where the Taiex index gained 2.1 percent to 8,755.88. The Straits Times index in Singapore was 0.27 percent higher to 3,628.67, while in Hong Kong the Hang Seng index was up 0.47 percent to 21,684.67. In India, the Sensex gained 0.81 percent to 14,411.95. The Sydney Ordinaries added 0.43 percent to 6,421.1 in Australia. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was 0.3 percent higher to 18,211.68, while the Topix index was up 0.2 percent to 1,783.72.

Crude oil prices were significantly lower after the latest US inventories report showed that crude oil and gasoline stockpiles grew substantially last week. Prices for base metals remained mixed, while gold declined.

Sterling saw gains after the Bank of England released the minutes from its Monetary Policy Committee meeting earlier in the month, revealing that the vote to keep interest rates steady was at 5 to 4, with the four voting to raise rates. The Swiss franc and the Swedish krona were also higher on the session.

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