Global Stock Markets, Boosted By Earnings, Remain Wary Ahead Of Central Bank Meetings

Global stock markets traded mostly higher Tuesday as better-than-expected earnings from heavyweights like BP and Standard Chartered buoyed investor sentiment, which was tempered by caution exercised ahead of central bank meetings in the U.S., Japan and New Zealand later this week. A strengthening yen affected Japanese stocks, though, which were an exception among the major Asian bourses.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Index in Tokyo closed 0.49 percent lower and it was joined in the negative territory by the S&P/ASX 200 Index in Australia and the S&P/NZX 50 Index, which fell by 0.3 percent and 1.03 percent, respectively. Investors will watch closely the outcomes from meetings of Bank of Japan and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, both of which are scheduled for Thursday.

The other index in negative territory was the Straits Times Index in Singapore, where ongoing domestic economic troubles dragged it down by 0.19 percent.

The green brigade in Asia was led by India, where the S&P BSE Sensex gained 1.41 percent, where predictions of a better-than-normal monsoon has helped market sentiment. China was the next biggest gainer, with the Shanghai Composite and Shenzhen Composite indexes gaining 0.61 percent and 1.19 percent, respectively.

Offshore, the Hang Seng Index in Hong Kong gained 0.48 percent, while in neighboring South Korea, the Kospi Index climbed 0.25 percent.

In Europe, stock markets jumped on the back of better-than-expected results from bigwigs like BP and Standard Chartered, but began slipping as the morning progressed. The FTSE 100 in London was 0.28 percent higher at 11:12 a.m. local time (6:12 a.m. EDT), marginally lower than its high point earlier in the morning. Similarly, the CAC 40 in France and Germany’s DAX began Tuesday trade in positive territory but slipped, trading 0.16 percent and 0.03 percent in the negative after noon (6:15 a.m. EDT), respectively.

U.S. index futures were all in positive territory at 6:22 a.m. EDT. Dow Jones futures were up 0.16 percent, S&P 500 futures were 0.17 percent higher and Nasdaq futures had gained 0.07 percent.

Crude oil prices rallied somewhat as well, with Brent Crude, the global benchmark, trading 0.63 percent higher at 6:03 a.m. EDT, while West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose 0.56 percent.