Markets steady as China opens key sectors

WORLD stock markets were little changed yesterday as Wall Street investors locked in recent gains even as European shares approached four-month peaks and China moved to further open up its economy.

Washington neared an agreement to lift its ban on US firms supplying to Chinese telecoms gear-maker ZTE, sources said, while Beijing said it would steeply cut import tariffs for automobiles and car parts.

That boosted shares of US carmakers Ford, General Motors, and US-listed shares of Fiat.

Europe’s big carmakers Volkswagen, BMW, Daimler jumped, too.

More broadly, world stock markets were mixed as investors took profit from the previous session’s rally supported by a US-China trade war truce. MSCI’s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.21pc.

The US consumer discretionary index fell 0.2pc on disappointing reports from retailer Kohl’s and homebuilder Toll Brothers, but analysts paid the reports little notice.

“I don’t think today there is any news that’s particularly concerning other than disappointing guidance from Kohl’s and disappointing results from Toll Brothers,” said Michael James, managing director of equity trading at Wedbush Securities in Los Angeles. “I don’t think it’s anything other than some profit taking.”

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 67.75 points, or 0.27pc, to 24,945.54, the S&P 500 gained 1.93 points, to 2,734.94 and the Nasdaq Composite added 6.68 points.

European shares were up as Italian government bond yields slipped from multi-month highs after six days of steep selling tied to the growing likelihood of a government comprised of the populist parties 5-Star Movement and The League.