World shares mixed as Wall Street rally loses momentum

Youkyung Lee, The Associated Press</span>
Published Tuesday, February 13, 2018 6:52AM EST

SEOUL, Korea, Republic Of -- Shares in Europe and Asia were mixed Tuesday as the afterglow from Wall Street's overnight rally faded. Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index lost 0.7 per cent, giving up early gains as the yen strengthened against the U.S. dollar.

KEEPING SCORE: Germany's DAX shed 0.2 per cent to 12,263.61 and the CAC 40 of France fell 0.1 per cent to 5,136.45. Britain's FTSE 100 was wobbling in and out of negative territory, edging 0.1 per cent higher in early trading to 7,171.21. S&P futures lost 0.5 per cent and Dow futures were 0.6 per cent lower, auguring a downbeat start for trading on Wall Street.

ASIA'S DAY: Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.7 per cent to 21,244.68 after gaining more than 1.0 per cent earlier in the day. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index added 1.4 per cent to 29,884.06 and the Shanghai Composite Index advanced 1.0 per cent to 3,185.86. South Korea's Kospi rose 1.1 per cent to 2,395.19. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 per cent to 5,855.90. Share benchmarks in Southeast Asia and New Zealand were all higher.

WHERE THINGS STAND: Sentiment is jittery after it took just nine days for stocks to plunge 10 per cent from their latest peak, which was reached on Jan. 26. A drop of that size is known on Wall Street as a market "correction." According to LPL Financial, it was the swiftest move from a record high to a correction in the history of the S&P 500. The index rose 1.5 per cent Friday but still wound up with its worst weekly loss in more than two years.

ANALYST'S TAKE: A key question is whether the correction has already hit bottom, said Jingyi Pan, a market strategist at IG. "Nevertheless, the worst is likely not over for this week for the simple reason that we have U.S. CPI sitting as a mammoth event risk this week," said Pan, referring to the Wednesday release of U.S. consumer price index data for January.

JAPAN OUTLOOK: Japan is due to release fourth quarter GDP data on Wednesday. The government looks likely to keep Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda on as central bank chief for another term. But the decision on the BOJ governorship comes at a time when concern is growing over the central bank's strategy for eventually winding down its massive monetary stimulus.

OIL: Benchmark U.S. crude rose 15 cents to $59.44 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It gained 9 cents to $59.29 a barrel on Monday. Brent crude, used to price international oils, advanced 39 cents to $62.98 per barrel in London.

CURRENCIES: The dollar slipped to 107.68 yen from 108.66 yen. The euro rose to $1.2322 from $1.2289.

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