After a solid week last week for most markets, it will be a warier start today.
Global share markets rose last week with Eurozone shares starring, rising 3.2% after the European Central Bank eased monetary policy, while news of a ceasefire in Ukraine added to confidence on Friday.
Japanese shares end up 1.6% as the Yen continued its fall against the US dollar.
Chinese shares jumped a very solid 4.9% despite continuing fears about the country’s property sector.
Investors there believe the government will come to their aid once again with more spending.
And US shares ended up 0.2%, thanks to the softer than expected jobs report which eased fears of an earlier Fed rate hike.
Bond yields mostly rose, but yields in peripheral Eurozone countries continued to slide.
The US 10 year bond yield rose to 2.46% after being as low as 2.34% during the week.
The ECB easing saw the euro continue to slide with the rising $US weighing on commodity prices, but the $A remained stubbornly strong despite the falling iron ore price (see separate story).
In fact the dollar is closer to 94 USc than 92c, which looked the case during the week.
In the US, the Dow rose 67.7 points, or 0.4% to end at 17,137.36. The S&P 500 was up 10 points, or half a percent to 2,007.71, and The Nasdaq Composite added 20.6 points, or 0.4%, to 4,582.90.
For the week, the Dow and the S&P 500 each added 0.2% and the Nasdaq was up a tiny 0.06%.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 added 1.6% in a fourth week of gains. Germany’s Dax was up nearly 3% and France’s CAC 40 closed with a gain of 2.4%, as investors reacted positively to the ease by the ECB.
In Asia, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.4% over the week.
The Shanghai Composite Index surged 4.9%, the biggest gain in 19 months, amid speculation the government is accelerating measures to support the economy.
The Japanese market was up 1.6% for the week for the Nikkei in Tokyo.
In Australia the falling iron ore price and weak bank shares dragged the market lower.
The benchmark ASX 200 Index fell 27.2 points, or half a per cent, to 5598.7 over the week. Helping knock prices lower was many companies going ex dividend (such as BHP Billiton).
The Commonwealth Bank finished the week 0.02% lower at $81.30, while ANZ fell 0.3% to $33.34. NAB and Westpac fell 1% and 0.8% to $34.84 and $34.76 respectively.
Electronics retailer Harvey Norman was the week’s best performing share, rising 6.8% to $3.79.
That was after reporting its first profit growth in three years a week ago last Friday.
And Qantas continued to strengthen. Its shares have rallied 11.2% to $1.54 since a week ago last Thursday when it revealed a surprised $2.8 billion loss.
