BANGKOK (AP) — Shares climbed in Europe and Asia on Monday, tracking last week’s gains on Wall Street, and analysts said investors were viewing President-elect Donald Trump’s choice of billionaire investor Scott Bessent as his nominee for Treasury secretary as a relatively market-friendly choice.
Bitcoin fell slightly and oil prices also declined, while U.S. futures advanced.
Germany’s DAX surged 0.7% to 19,461.11 and the CAC 40 in Paris jumped 0.9% to 7,322.70. Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.4% at 8,291.83.
The future for the S&P 500 was 0.4% higher while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%.
In Asian trading, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index gained 1.3% to 38,780.14 while the Kospi in Seoul rose 1.3% to 2,534.34. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.3% to 8,417.60.
In China, shares fell further, with the Shanghai Composite index edging 0.1% lower, to 3,263.76 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong falling 0.4% to 19,150.99.
China’s central bank kept the interest rate on the one-year medium-term lending facility unchanged at 2%.
Shares in technology companies saw big declines, with online shopping platform Meituan falling 4% while multimedia and video games company Tencent dropped 1.5%.
India’s Sensex gained 1.1% as hundreds of supporters of the main opposition party protested against billionaire Gautam Adani, who was recently indicted in the U.S. for alleged fraud and bribery. Activists are demanding the arrests of Adani and oher associates named in the case. The Adani group has denied wrongdoing. Shares in Adani Enterprises gained 4.1%.
Taiwan’s Taiex added 0.2%. In Bangkok, the SET lost 0.2%.
This week will bring an update on consumer sentiment from the business group The Conference Board on Tuesday and key inflation data with the release Wednesday of the personal consumption expenditures index for October. The PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation and this will be the last PCE reading prior to a meeting of the Federal Reserve next month.
On Friday, stocks closed higher on Wall Street as the market posted its fifth straight gain and the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched another record high, gaining 1% to close at 44,296.51.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3%, to 5,969.34 while the Nasdaq composite rose 0.2% to 19,003.65. The Russell 2000 index rose 1.8%.
Markets have swung widely since the U.S. elections in November, and Trump’s choices to head Treasury and other key positions that influence economic and financial policies were among the factors overhanging investor sentiment.
