Market Update: A calmer end to a cheerless week across global markets – 23.08.2013

Source: Henderson Global Investors

US equities finished higher on Thursday with the Dow Jones breaking a seven-session slide (up 0.4%) and the S&P 500 registering its biggest daily gain since 1 August (up 0.9%). A technical glitch on the Nasdaq OMX, the second largest US stock exchange halted trading for several hours and led to the lowest volume of trading — in one session — since the beginning of the year across a number of other exchanges. The gains in shares came as US Treasury yields steadied and as investors took heart from manufacturing data from China, the eurozone and US, all of which improved in August with the Chinese sector specifically unexpectedly returning to growth this month. US jobless claims rose but remained near a six-year low.

The Asian session overnight was also more upbeat focusing on improving economic data. Emerging markets were calmer and this seemingly helped the exporter-heavy equity market of Japan, which also gained further strength from a weakening yen. The Nikkei 225 surged 2.2%. This morning in Europe, a mildly bullish sentiment prevails. European stocks were helped as a gauge of mining companies rose, while in London investors adopted a cautious approach going into the long weekend. At the time of writing the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was flat having erased earlier declines, while the FTSE 100 was up slightly by 0.2%.