Stock market today: World shares are mixed following slight gains on Wall Street
BANGKOK (AP) — European shares opened lower Thursday after strong advances in Asia led by rallies in Chinese markets.
U.S. futures were mixed and oil prices fell.
Germany's DAX lost 0.1% to 16,729.35 and the CAC 40 in Paris also edged 0.1% lower, to 7,563.03. Britain's FTSE 100 was down 2 points at 7,722.88.
The future for the S&P 500 was virtually unchanged and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1%.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index was an outlier in Asia, shedding 0.4% to 33,539.62. Speculation over whether and when the Bank of Japan might ease its longstanding lax monetary policy and raise its key interest rate from minus 0.1% has kept stocks wobbling in the world's third-largest economy.
BOJ policymakers are waiting to see what sort of wage gains might come in 2024 as part of the central bank's strategy of keeping credit easy to try to spur stronger growth.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index surged 2.5% to 17,043.53 on heavy buying of technology and property shares. With Thursday's gains, it is down about 8% for the year as China's economy has sputtered despite the country's reopening after it loosened COVID-19 precautions.
Online food delivery company Meituan was up 5.2% and property developer Sino-Ocean Group Holding advanced 4.7%. Shares in struggling developer Country Garden Holdings jumped 6.9%.
Ecommerce giant Alibaba's shares gained 2.8% even after a court in New York refused to dismiss a lawsuit filed against it by a U.S. company, Kelly Toys Holdings, for allegedly selling counterfeit versions of Squishmallow plush toys.
The Shanghai Composite index surged 1.4% to 2,954.70.
South Korea's Kospi advanced 1.6% to 2,655.28 and the S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.7% to 7,614.30.
India's Sensex gained 0.4% and Bangkok's SET also was up 0.4%.
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