Global stocks higher as investors await final vote processing in US presidential election

Global stock markets edged higher and the dollar sank to a two-month low on Friday as investors awaited final vote processing in the U.S. presidential election that showed Joe Biden on the verge of winning the White House.

MSCI’s all-country world stock index rose 0.19%, adding to a week-long rally that has seen the benchmark for global equity markets advance more than 7%. The index is on course for its best week in nearly seven months. In Europe, the broad pan-regional FTSEurofirst 300 index dropped 0.12%.

Biden took the lead over President Donald Trump in the battleground states of Pennsylvania and Georgia for the first time on Friday, but Georgia ordered a recount that could lead to a long period of uncertainty, which markets dislike.

The surge in coronavirus cases, both in Europe and the United States, put a damper on the recovery outlook and investor enthusiasm that had embraced a scenario of Republicans retaining control of the Senate during a Biden administration.

Wall Street’s main stock indexes gave back some of this week’s sharp gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.18%, the S&P 500 lost 0.08% and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.18%.

With COVID-19 raging in the United States and parts of Europe, many investors assume more central bank stimulus is inevitable. The Bank of England expanded its asset purchase scheme on Thursday, while the Federal Reserve kept its monetary policy loose and pledged to do whatever it takes to sustain a U.S. economic recovery. The European Central Bank is widely expected to announce more stimulus next month.

Overnight in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei average rose 0.9% to a 29-year high while MSCI’s broadest gauge of Asian Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.3%, near a three-year high.

Crude prices fell as fresh lockdowns in Europe to contain the coronavirus darkened the outlook for oil. Brent crude futures fell $1.54 to $39.39 a barrel. U.S. crude futures slid $1.66 to $37.13 a barrel.