Asian stocks up as Iraq worries ease
SEOUL, South Korea - Asian stock markets were mostly higher Tuesday as tensions over Ukraine and Iraq eased, giving investors the confidence to dip into riskier assets. European shares drifted.
Britain's FTSE 100 slipped 0.1 percent to 6,627.18 and Germany's DAX lost 0.4 percent to 9,145.54. France's CAC 40 fell 0.6 percent to 4,173.74. But futures augured gains on Wall Street. Dow futures rose 0.1 percent to 16,536 and S&P 500 futures added 0.2 percent to 1,935.60
Japan's Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to 15,161.31 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.1 percent to 2,041.47. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.3 percent to 5,530.30. Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.2 percent to 24,689.41 but China's Shanghai Composite dipped 0.1 percent to 2,221.59. Southeast Asian markets rose.
In Iraq, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's hold on power is weakening, possibly opening the way for a less divisive figure to lead the government, which is fighting an insurgency. President Barack Obama said the U.S. had successfully carried out air strikes to support Kurdish fighters in their battle against Islamist extremists in Iraq.
"Global sentiment continued to recover overnight as the conflict in the Ukraine appeared to moderate, at least temporarily. In addition, the situation in Iraq is not currently troubling markets, despite the resumption of U.S. strikes," said William Leys, a sales trader at CMC Markets.
China will release monthly industrial production and retail sales figures this week while Japan updates gross domestic product for the latest quarter on Wednesday. The Bank of Korea holds a monthly rate-setting meeting on Thursday, with a majority of analysts forecasting a rate cut for the first time in 15 months.
The benchmark U.S. crude futures contract was down 76 cents to $97.31 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 43 cents to settle at $98.08 on Monday.
The euro declined to $1.3363 from $1.3382. The dollar rose to 102.28 yen from 102.24 yen.