Despite China reporting a slowdown in manufacturing due to the Delta variant pandemic, global stock opened higher on Monday.
As Wall Street recently finished another strong month, investors were encouraged by their earnings.
The S&P 500 achieved gains for the sixth straight month through July.
The french stock CAC 40 closed at 6,677.27, up 1% in the early trade, while the German
DAX closed at 15,606.27, up 0.4%. The UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.9% to 7,096.59.
The US stocks were also positive open as S&P 500 rose 0.6% to 4,414.75 and Dow closed at 35,007, up 0.5%.
IG’s Yeap Jun Rong said 89% of S&P 500 companies exceeded expectations, but it is unclear if the market will continue to rise.
“Guidance from several big tech companies is pointing to slower growth ahead and markets
may need to find another catalyst to drive further upside,” Rong added.
Asian Stock Market
A lively Asian session was also in motion, as Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 rose 1.8% closing at 27,781.02.
Seoul’s Kospi rose 0.7% to 3,223.04 and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.1% to 26,235.80.
While benchmarks rose mainly across the region, the Shanghai Composite Index rose 2%
to 3,464.29 and the Australian S&P/ASX 200 rose 1.3% to 7,491.40.
The National Bureau of Statistics released data on Saturday showing the official purchasing
managers’ stock falling from 50.9 in June to 50.4 in July.
Still, numbers over 50 indicate an expansion on the 100-scale.
According to a monthly manufacturing poll published by Caixin on Monday, the figure for
July is 50.3 which was a drop from 51.3 in June.
When lockdowns were put in place, the official numbers were the lowest since February 2020.
Analysts expected manufacturing activity to be somewhat eased.
China is also coping with an outbreak of the Delta variant that has run uncontrolled in several Asian countries.
Despite authorities working to appease fear, traders were following a crackdown on Chinese tech firms by Beijing.
On Monday, the gaming and social media company Tencent Holding Ltd. declined 0.8%.
However, the Internet search engine Baidu Inc. rose 2.2% and e-commerce firm Alibaba Group rose 1.5%.
As foreign investors poured nearly one billion dollars in the market, “Hong Kong, Shanghai
and Shenzhen indexes eased in early trade, before abruptly reversing course” said Onada’s Jeffrey Halley.
“That has seen a stunning reversal as regulatory risk has been forgotten,” He added.
On the other hand, the US benchmark crude oil lost $0.65 to $73.30 per barrel on the New
York Mercantile Electronic Exchange. Brent crude oil lost $0.62 to $74.79.
On Friday, the US dollar rose from 109.62 yen to 109.65 yen and the euro rose from $1.1875 to $1.1888.