World shares advance, tracking Wall Street week's end rally
BANGKOK (AP) — World shares were mostly higher Monday after a strong close on Wall Street last week, though the latest manufacturing surveys showed weakening factory activity in Asia's two biggest economies: China and Japan.
Germany's DAX gained 0.3% to 13,522,83 while the CAC 40 in Paris added 0.4% to 6,473.00. Britain's FTSE 100 climbed 0.4% to 7,455.55.
The futures for the S&P 500 and the Dow industrials were 0.2% lower. On Friday, Wall Street closed out its best month since November 2020. The S&P 500 index, a benchmark for many stock funds, rose 1.4%. It finished 9.1% higher for July.
In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index gained 0.7% to 27,993.35 while the Shanghai Composite index edged 0.2% higher, to 3,259.96. In Sydney, the S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.7% to 6,993.00. The Kospi in Seoul ended nearly unchanged at 2,452.25 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged less than 0.1% higher to 20,163.08.
Chinese manufacturing’s recovery from anti-virus shutdowns faltered in July as activity sank, a survey showed Sunday, adding to pressure on the struggling economy in a politically sensitive year when President Xi Jinping is expected to try to extend his time in power.
Factory activity was depressed by weak global demand and anti-virus controls that are weighing on domestic consumer spending, according to the national statistics agency and an official industry group, the China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing.
“The country was already facing an uphill challenge, to put it mildly, with regard to its growth target this year and the fact that manufacturing activity is slowing again doesn’t bode well," Craig Erlam of Oanda said in a commentary.
A similar survey of purchasing managers, the au Jibun Bank Japan Manufacturing PMI, slipped to 52.1 in July from 52.7 in June, the slowest growth in the...