Global stocks up after Wall St rebounds from inflation jolt

By Joe McDonald
    Beijing, Oct 14 (AP) Global stock markets surged on Friday after Wall Street rebounded from a slump caused by higher-than-forecast inflation numbers.
     Market benchmarks in London and Paris opened up more than 1 per cent. Tokyo jumped 3.3 per cent for its biggest one-day gain in seven months.
     Hong Kong and Shanghai also rose. Benchmark US crude rose almost USD 2 per barrel.
     On Wall Street, the future for the benchmark S and P 500 index was down 0.4 per cent.
     Wall Street slumped on Thursday after the US consumer price index for September rose 8.2 per cent. But the S and P 500 rebounded to end up 2.6 per cent for its biggest daily gain in 2 1/2 years.
     The “sticker shock” of inflation was "shrugged off,” possibly because traders already expect another sharp interest rate hike from the Federal Reserve next month to cool surging prices, said Vishnu Varathan of Mizuho Bank in a report.
     The Fed and central banks in Europe and Asia have raised rates by unusually wide margins this year to contain inflation that is at multi-decade highs. Traders worry they might tip the global economy into recession.
     In early trading, the FTSE 100 in London rose 0.6 per cent to 6,894.30 and the CAC 40 in Paris gained 0.8 per cent to 5,925.44.
     The DAX in Frankfurt advanced 0.5 per cent to 12,420.24.
     On Wall Street, the future for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.3 per cent.
     On Thursday, the Dow rose 2.8 per cent and the Nasdaq composite climbed 2.2 per cent.
     Thursday's CPI report showed inflation is spreading more widely across the economy.
     The CPI was down from August's 8.3 per cent increase. But core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy costs to show the long-term trend, accelerated to 6.6per cent from August's 6.3 per cent.
     Prices in September rose 0.6 per cent from the previous month.
     That appeared likely to reinforce Fed plans for more big rate hikes. Most traders already expected a rise of up to three-quarters of a percentage point, three times its usual margin, at the US central bank's next meeting in November.
     Thursday's data prompted some investors to expect yet another rate hike of the same size in December.
     In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 jumped to 27,090.76 and the Hang Seng in Hong Kong gained 1.2 per cent to 16,587.69.
     The Shanghai Composite Index added 1.8 per cent to 3,071.99 after official data showed inflation rose to a 29-month high of 2.8 per cent in September from the previous month's 2.5 per cent.
     That was below the official ceiling of 3 per cent, leaving Beijing room to stimulate weak economic growth.
     The Kospi in Seoul rose 2.3 per cent to 2,212.55 and Sydney's S and P-ASX 200 rose 1.8 per cent to 6,758.80.
     India's Sensex advanced 1.8 per cent to 58,257.86. New Zealand and Southeast Asian markets also rose.
     In energy markets, benchmark US crude rose USD 1.38 to USD 88.65 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
     Brent crude, used to price international oils, lost 4 cents to USD 94.53 per barrel in London.
     The dollar rose to 147.59 yen from Thursday's 147.17 yen. The greenback is at a 32-year high against the Japanese currency.
     The euro declined to 97.51 cents from 97.85 cents. (AP) FZH

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)