NEW YORK, Feb 16 — A gauge of major world equity markets inched higher to a record for a second straight day yesterday, lifted by a round of global data, while a drop in the US dollar helped boost US bond prices.
MSCI's All-Country World index hit an intraday record of 444.94, although stocks on Wall Street dipped as the financial sector, down 0.1 per cent, snapped a five-session winning streak and energy stocks slumped 1.4 per cent.
In the United States, manufacturing activity in the Mid-Atlantic region surged to its highest in 33 years, housing data indicated a recovery in the sector was on track, and weekly jobless claims pointed to a labor market that continues to tighten.
Other data showed improvements in exports from Indonesia and Taiwan, and falling unemployment in Sweden and the Netherlands.
Still, US equity indexes pulled back, with the benchmark S&P 500 snapping a seven-session winning streak, its longest winning streak in nearly four years.
“The fundamental view of investors has not changed. It's merely profit-taking in the short term,” said Jeff Kravetz, a Phoenix-based regional investment director of the Private Client Reserve at US Bank.
“If we got a really big selloff in the market, we would view that as a buying opportunity.”
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.91 points, or 0.04 per cent, to end at 20,619.77, the S&P 500 lost 2.03 points, or 0.09 per cent, to 2,347.22 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 4.54 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 5,814.90.
MSCI's benchmark global equity index edged up 0.18 per cent to 444.46. Europe's index of leading 300 stocks closed 0.4 per cent lower.
The US dollar weakened 0.7 per cent against a basket of major currencies, retreating further from a one-month high on uncertainty about the timing of the next US interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve.
The fall in the US dollar helped bond prices rally, along with the upbeat economic data. Benchmark 10-year US Treasury notes were last up 14/32 in price to yield 2.4538 per cent, down from 2.50 per cent late on Wednesday.
“The 10-year can't get through two-and-a-half (per cent). It gets bought like crazy every time it gets close to two-and-a-half per cent,” said Stephen Massocca, chief investment officer at Wedbush Equity Management LLC in San Francisco.
Oil prices retreated from earlier highs despite the weakening of the greenback but held in a tight range as the market weighed swelling US inventories against possible renewed efforts by major oil producers to reduce a price-sapping glut.
Brent settled down 0.2 per cent at US$55.65 (RM247.83) after climbing as high as US$56.24 a barrel, while US crude settled 0.5 per cent lower at US$53.36 after touching a session high of US$53.59.
Gold, up 0.7 per cent to US$1,240.90 an ounce, was the beneficiary of the weaker greenback along with political uncertainty over U.S. President Donald Trump's policies, and upcoming elections in several European Union countries.
Copper lost 1.1 per cent to US$6,000.15 a tonne after news China's overseas investment had weakened, and sentiment waned over demand in the world's top copper user. — Reuters
