LONDON (AP) — Hopes that United States politicians will be able to reach a deal on raising the government’s debt ceiling, avoiding the risk of a disastrous default, supported global markets on Monday, with Wall Street closed for a holiday.
Congress must agree by the end of February to increase the limit on how much the nation can borrow so the government can service its debt. If it doesn’t, the country could default, which would deal a heavy blow to global financial markets and undermine confidence in the world’s largest economy.
Republicans appear ready to raise the debt ceiling temporarily and have also backed away from their insistence on deep spending concessions in exchange for a deal. The signs of compromise last week encouraged investors to buy into stock indexes, many of which are near multiyear highs.
“Although this again could be seen as another round of political battle, any progress to avoid immediate dangers will likely be seen as positive by the market,” Gary Yau, analyst at Crédit Agricole, said in a report to investors.
The FTSE 100 in Britain closed Monday up 0.43 percent, at 6,180.98, the DAX in Germany advanced 0.36 percent, to 7,729.80. The CAC-40 in France ended the day up 0.2 percent, at 3,749.79.
United States stock and bond markets were closed on Monday for Martin Luther King’s Birthday.
Dickie Wong, executive director of research at Kingston Securities in Hong Kong, said he was optimistic that an agreement on the debt ceiling would be reached because of the high price tag attached to failing to do so.
“Both parties will find some kind of solution because they all know that the debt ceiling will have to be increased,” Mr. Wong said. “At the very last minute, they will sort it out.”
Earlier in Asia, markets were more cautious, with Japanese shares hit hard by a rise in the yen. The Nikkei 225 fell 1.5 percent, to close at 10,747.74.
The Bank of Japan began a two-day policy meeting and has been under pressure from a new government to take more aggressive steps to fight the long deflationary slump there. Some analysts expect the bank to expand its asset-purchasing program and set an inflation target.
In commodity markets, the benchmark oil contract for February delivery was down 50 cents to $95.06 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 7 cents to finish at $95.56 a barrel on the Nymex on Friday.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/22/business/daily-stock-market-activity.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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