Stock market today: Shares fall in Europe after gains in Asia. US markets are closed for a holiday
European markets have opened lower while Asian markets were mostly higher as the week got off to a mixed start
HONG KONG — European markets opened lower while Asian markets were mostly higher on Monday as the week got off to a mixed start.
U.S. markets will be closed for Martin Luther King Day, a holiday.
France’s CAC 40 lost 0.1% to 7,454.74. Germany’s DAX slipped 0.1% to 16,688.90, and Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.2% to 7,619.80.
The future for the S&P 500 gained 0.1%, and that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was virtually unchanged.
China’s central bank opted to keep its one-year policy loan interest rate at 2.5% on Monday while injecting funds into the financial system. That surprised market observers since it was contrary to the anticipated trend of lowering borrowing costs to stimulate the economy.
The “Policy focus has shifted to the effectiveness of monetary policy,” Zhaopeng Xing and Raymond Yeung of ANZ said in a report. “Today’s hold means the chance of an RRR (reserve ratio requirement) cut in February is higher.”
The Hang Seng in Hong Kong lost 0.2% to 16,216.33, and the Shanghai Composite index was up 0.2%, at 2,886.29.
Search engine provider Baidu slumped 11.5% after a local newspaper report alleged the company's Ernie AI platform was linked to Chinese military research into artificial intelligence. Baidu said in a statement that it “has no affiliation or other partnership with the academic institution in question.”
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 on Monday briefly surpassed the 36,000 mark for the first time in 34 years, but ended the day a bit lower, gaining 0.9% to close at 35,901.79. The Kospi in South Korea was nearly flat at 2,525.99.
Ruling-party candidate Lai Ching-te emerged victorious in Taiwan’s
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