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6 years ago

Global stocks nearly flat on mixed earnings

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World stocks markets were nearly flat on Friday, while the safe-haven US dollar touched to a two-week high after data showed a record Chinese trade surplus.

US stocks were little changed on mixed bank earnings and gains in industrials, according to Reuters report.

Gold slipped to seven-month lows on the firmer dollar and remarks Thursday from US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who said that the United States and China might reopen trade talks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 86.11 points, or 0.35 per cent, to 25,011, the S&P 500 gained 4.59 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 2,802.88 and the Nasdaq Composite added 16.66 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 7,840.57.

Against a basket of major currencies, the dollar index rose 0.05 per cent. Earlier Friday the dollar touched its highest level since June 29.

Spot gold dropped 0.4 per cent to $1,241.92 an ounce.

While China has vowed to retaliate against the proposed new US tariffs - 10 per cent on $200 billion of Chinese goods - the lack of a specific response to date has sparked global relief.

Shanghai’s stock index edged lower and China’s yuan headed for its fifth straight week of losses.

The yield curve on US Treasuries once again reached its flattest level in 11 years on Friday in low-volume trading.

Benchmark 10-year notes last rose 4/32 in price to yield 2.8381 per cent, from 2.853 per cent late on Thursday.

In commodity markets, oil prices had a wild week of price swings, with both the main benchmarks at one point suffering heavy losses as traders focused on the return of Libyan oil to the market.

Even so, oil rose on Friday. US crude rose 0.58 per cent to $70.74 per barrel and Brent was last at $75.21, up 1.02 per cent on the day.

Copper eased about half a percent on Friday and was poised for a fifth straight weekly fall, its longest decline since 2015, on concerns about weaker demand in face of the US-China trade dispute.

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