London/Tokyo
World shares surged on Wednesday as reports of a European Union rescue fund helped offset concerns about unrest in Hong Kong over Beijing’s proposed national security laws.
The European Commission proposed a package worth in total 1.85 trillion euros for the EU’s next long-term budget and a recovery fund for economies hammered by the coronavirus pandemic.
News of the plan helped underpin a broad market rally in Europe.
The euro EUR= jumped to trade at 1.1022 against the dollar, up from 1.0932, while the STOXX 600 extended gains, rising 0.7% to reach its highest level since March 10. Yields of Italian, Spanish and Portuguese sovereign debt fell to multi-week lows.
MSCI’s index of the world’s 49 stock markets. MIWD00000PUS gained 0.3%, close to the two-and-a-half-month highs reached on Tuesday on hopes of economic recovery in the developed world as countries ease social restrictions after the COVID-19 crisis.
MSCI’s ex-Japan Asia-Pacific index .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 0.4% as Hong Kong and mainland China shares extended declines.
Oil prices fell amid the U.S.-China friction and concern over how quickly fuel demand will recover as lockdowns ease. Brent crude LCOc1 futures dropped 1.6% to $35.60. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures CLc1 were down 1.2%, at $33.95 a barrel.
E-Mini futures for the S&P 500 ESc1 rose 1.2% to their highest point since March 6. The index had cleared 3,000 points in Wall Street overnight before earlier pulling back, as some traders returned to the New York Stock Exchange floor for the first time in two months.—Reuters