World shares mixed after White House confirms plans for Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi

MANILA: World shares were mixed on Friday after the White House confirmed plans for President Donald Trump to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping next week.

The confirmation reduced some of the uncertainty surrounding trade tensions between the two biggest economies, though prospects for a significant trade deal remain unclear.

The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.2 per cent while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up nearly 0.1 per cent. Oil prices have declined after surging a day earlier.

In early European trading, Germany's DAX rose 0.1 per cent to 24,235.73, while Britain's FTSE 100 edged less than 0.1 per cent higher to 9,564.87. In Paris, the CAC 40 fell 0.3 per cent to 8,203.50.

Chinese benchmarks gained after the ruling Communist Party wrapped up an important planning meeting on Thursday without any major policy changes.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained more than 0.7 per cent to 26,160.15, while the Shanghai Composite index added 0.7 per cent to 3,950.31.

Japan's Nikkei 225 rebounded Friday from the previous day's losses, adding 1.4 per cent to 49,299.65. Tech shares were among the gainers as sentiment was boosted by the White House confirmation of Trump's meeting with Xi.

Data released Friday showed Japan's core inflation rate rose to 2.9 per cent in September from 2.7 per cent in August. Despite price pressures, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged at a meeting next week: newly elected Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has expressed a preference to keep rates low.

In Seoul, the Kospi surged 2.5 per cent to 3,941.59, a fresh record, as gains on Wall Street and news of the Trump-Xi summit lifted investor sentiment and eased trade worries.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 slipped nearly 0.2 per cent to 9,019.00 after preliminary data showed Australia's factory activity contracted to 49.7 in October from 51.4 in September.

India's BSE Sensex fell more than 0.5 per cent, while Taiwan's stock market was closed for a holiday.

US stocks rose to the cusp of their records on Thursday, as oil prices jumped after President Donald Trump announced “massive” new sanctions on Russia's crude industry.

On Wall Street on Thursday, the S&P 500 climbed 0.6 per cent, just 0.2 per cent shy of its all-time high set earlier this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.3 per cent and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.9 per cent.

Companies in the oil and gas business led the way, including gains of 1.1 per cent for Exxon Mobil, 3.1 per cent for ConocoPhillips and 3.4 per cent for Diamondback Energy. They rose with prices for crude, which leapt roughly 5.5 per cent after Trump announced the sanctions against Russian oil giants Rosneft and Lukoil.

The hope is to convince Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, to end the brutal war with Ukraine, and sanctions could constrict the global flow of oil.

The jumps helped oil prices recover some of their sharp recent losses, taken because of expectations for supplies of crude in inventories to remain plentiful. Oil prices are still down more than 10 per cent for the year so far, and early Friday, they slipped further. US benchmark crude lost 7 cents to USD 61.72 per barrel, while Brent crude was down 10 cents at USD 65.89 per barrel.

In other dealings early Friday, the price of gold slipped 1.5 per cent to USD 4,085.10 an ounce. On Thursday, it had climbed 2 per cent to USD 4,145.60 per ounce.

The US dollar rose to 152.94 Japanese yen from 152.60. The euro slid to USD 1.1608 from USD 1.1618.