A gauge of world stocks was little changed on Monday, as an advance in European shares faded and U.S. equities dipped, while the U.S. dollar slipping to near 13-month lows against other major currencies.

COMMERCIAL BREAK
SCROLL TO CONTINUE READING

European shares initially saw a boost from gains in HSBC, as Europe`s biggest bank unveiled a 5-percent rise in profits in the first six months of this year and its third share buyback in a year, underlining progress in its turnaround plan.

Its shares gained nearly 4 percent in London trading and were last up 1.7 percent.

On Wall Street, banks were also a bright spot, with the S&P financial index up 0.43 percent as the best performing of the 11 major sectors, although equities overall lost some ground.

Mining companies in London received a boost, with an index of their shares up 0.42 percent as copper hit a fresh two-year high after Chinese data showed that while manufacturing growth cooled slightly this month, a government infrastructure push kept construction moving.

"Their credit markets are actually curtailing issuance and defaults are down," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.

"So perhaps they are able to execute that reduced reliance on credit and still grow their economy."

Copper rose 0.70 percent to $6,369.50 a tonne, having risen as high as $6,430.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.08 percent and MSCI`s gauge of stocks across the globe gained 0.04 percent.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 60.78 points, or 0.28 percent, to 21,891.09, the S&P 500 lost 2.35 points, or 0.10 percent, to 2,469.75 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 27.21 points, or 0.43 percent, to 6,347.47.

Shares of tobacco companies continued to weigh, after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration proposed on Friday to cut nicotine in cigarettes to non-addictive levels.

British American Tobacco fell 4.2 percent, after dropping 6.8 percent on Friday, and Imperial Brands fell 5.8 percent. In the U.S., Altria Group, off 3.1 and Philip Morris, down 1.2 were among the top drags on the S&P 500.

The dollar index fell 0.14 percent, with the euro up 0.33 percent to $1.1789.

Benchmark 10-year notes last fell 2/32 in price to yield 2.2942 percent, from 2.287 percent late on Friday ahead of a heavy week of data, which will culminate in Friday’s employment report for July.

Oil prices retreated after hitting two-month highs. Oil earlier climbed as news of a producers` meeting next week added to bullish sentiment driven by the threat of U.S. sanctions against OPEC-member Venezuela.

U.S. crude fell 0.84 percent to $49.29 per barrel and Brent was last at $51.89, down 0.63 percent on the day.

(This article has not been edited by Zeebiz editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)