World stocks rise after new Wall Street highs

TERESA CEROJANO

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — World stock markets rose Tuesday after Wall Street indexes hit record highs, with Japan's Nikkei 225 leading gains as the yen weakened.

The Nikkei rose 2 percent, closing at 14,425.44 after a smaller-than-expected current account surplus for Japan weakened the yen. A weak yen usually boosts the share prices of Japanese exporters.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX climbed 0.6 percent at 9,763.93. Britain's FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent to 6,867.15 and France's CAC-40 was up 0.2 percent at 4,503.14.

Futures augured a muted opening on Wall Street, with Dow Jones Industrial futures up 0.2 percent and S&P 500 futures barely changed.

In Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.4 percent to 22,352.38 and India's Sensex climbed rose 1.4 percent to 23,900.28. It earlier rose above 24,000 for the first time after exit polls suggested the business-friendly Bharatiya Janata Party had won national elections.

China's Shanghai Composite index closed 0.1 percent down at 2,050.73 after retail sales, fixed asset investment and factory production data suggested that growth decelerated in April, though to still-robust levels.

"All the data is in-line with President Xi's call at the weekend that people must get used to the new normal" of slower growth, said Andrew Sullivan of Kim Eng Securities in Hong Kong.

Economic growth in the world's No. 2 economy slowed in the latest quarter to 7.4 percent.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 finished 0.9 percent higher at 5,498.20 and South Korea's Kospi was up 0.9 percent to 1,982.93.

Markets were also up in the Philippines, Indonesia and New Zealand. Bourses were closed for holidays in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Some U.S. indexes returned to record levels on Monday as investors regained their appetite for riskier stocks.

Benchmark crude for June delivery was unchanged at $100.59 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, shedding early trading gains. The near-month contract for the benchmark grade rose 60 cents to $100.59 on Monday.

In currencies, the euro was down at $1.3747 from $1.3758 late Monday. The dollar rose to 102.31 yen from 102.15 yen.