Most Japanese stocks declined after the Federal Reserve said the recovery is weakening in some regions of the U.S., sparking concern the world’s biggest economy is slowing.
Honda Motor Co., Japan’s No. 2 carmaker by market value, retreated 0.7 percent. Nintendo Co., a maker of game machines, sank 4.6 percent after UBS AG cut its rating to “neutral.” Tokyo Electric Power Co. closed 4 percent lower after falling as much 26 percent following power failures yesterday at the utility’s crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant.
European shares rose sharply on Thursday, bouncing from six days of losses as investors snapped up beaten-down stocks, notably those related to commodities.
U.S. crude futures edged up as OPEC's decision not to raise output targets at a meeting the day before and a big drop in inventories reported in the United States fuelled concerns about supply.
Total (TOTF.PA), ENI (ENI.MI) and BP (BP.L) rose between 1.2 and 1.4 percent.
Copper trimmed its losses, helped by expectations of higher demand from top consumer China, outweighing U.S. jobless claims data that signalled further slowing in the U.S. economy.
Miners to rise included Anglo American (AAL.L) and Antofagasta (ANTO.L), up 2.2 and 2.5 percent respectively. The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources Index .SXPP remains the worst performer this year, down more than 12 percent.
The European Central Bank said it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities. [ID:nLDE7581Z8]
The ECB held its key interest rates at 1.25 percent, but signalled a July interest rate rise. The Bank of England kept its key rate at 0.5 percent.
U.S. stocks advanced, snapping a six- day decline, as the trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed amid record exports and consumer confidence improved.
The Morgan Stanley Cyclical Index of companies most-tied to economic growth rose 1.2 percent. Mosaic Co. (MOS) and CF Industries Holdings Inc. (CF) paced gains among fertilizer producers, climbing at least 3.9 percent, after the government reduced its corn-crop estimate. American International Group Inc. (AIG) advanced 3 percent as Deutsche Bank AG recommended buying the shares. Brown-Forman Corp. added 1.7 percent after the maker of Jack Daniel’s whiskey reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 1 percent to 1,292.25 at 1:45 p.m. in New York. The benchmark gauge yesterday fell to 12.1 times its companies’ forecast operating earnings, the cheapest valuation since August, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 118.90 points, or 1 percent, to 12,167.84 today.
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