World shares mixed in quiet trading as traders await cues from Fed

BANGKOK: World shares were mixed on Tuesday after Wall Street held near its records, with traders awaiting fresh cues about interest rates from the US Federal Reserve.

Germany's DAX gained 0.2 per cent to 24,896.79. In Paris, the CAC 40 advanced 0.5 per cent to 7,924.30. Britain's FTSE edged 0.2 per cent higher to 9,173.55.

The future for the S&P 500 was 0.1 per cent lower, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was barely changed.

In Asian trading, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index lost 0.2 per cent to 43,546.29 as market heavyweight SoftBank Group Corp. fell 4 per cent after it announced it was taking a USD 2 billion stake in US computer chip maker Intel.

Intel gained 5.4 per cent in pre-market trading early Tuesday.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng shed 0.2 per cent to 25,122.90, while the Shanghai Composite index edged less than 0.1 per cent lower, to 3,727.29.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 declined 0.7 per cent to 8,896.20. In Seoul, the Kospi gave up 0.8 per cent to 3,151.56.

Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5 per cent, and the Sensex in India was up 0.4 per cent. In Bangkok, the SET slipped 0.1 per cent.

This week will bring updates from the head of the Federal Reserve and from some of the biggest US retailers.

On Monday, indexes mostly fell in Europe in their first trading after Trump's inconclusive summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine. Trump met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday, but that meeting finished after US markets were closed.

The S&P 500 barely budged and fell by less than 0.1 per cent. It was its first loss after it set an all-time high for three consecutive days. The Dow slipped 0.1 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite edged up by less than 0.1 per cent.

Novo Nordisk's stock that trades in the United States rose 3.7 per cent after the Danish company said US regulators approved its Wegovy drug as part of a treatment for a liver disease found in many overweight and obese people.

Soho House, a membership club with locations around the world, jumped 14.9 per cent after announcing a deal where an investor group led by hotel operator MCR would pay USD 9 in cash for its shares.

On Friday, the focus will swing to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, which has been the home in past years of many big policy announcements from the Fed. There, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will give a speech, and investors are hoping to hear how his mind has changed about interest rates since he said last month that he wanted to wait longer before cutting interest rates.

The Fed's twin jobs are to keep the job market healthy while also maintaining a lid on inflation, and helping one can often hurt the other in the short term. Lower rates can boost the economy by making it cheaper for US households and businesses to borrow to buy houses, cars or equipment, for example, but they also risk worsening inflation.

Inflation updates have been mixed, but traders are expecting the Fed to cut its main interest rate for the first time this year at its next meeting in September. The hope is that Powell could give a nod to that.

In other dealings early Tuesday, US benchmark crude oil lost 47 cents to USD 62.23 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, slipped 51 cents to USD 66.09 per barrel.

The US dollar fell to 147.66 Japanese yen from 147.88 yen. The euro rose to USD 1.1677 from USD 1.1663.