European stocks climb euro, treasuries steady

London - The euro strengthened and European stocks edged higher as data out of Asia lent the global growth story more momentum. Treasuries steadied after Wednesday’s drop, while gold advanced.

Chemical makers and technology companies led the increase that stretched across more than half of sectors in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index. The common currency climbed against most major peers as it shrugged off ECB attempts to talk it down earlier this week. US equity futures turned lower following big gains in benchmarks yesterday.

The dollar held on to Wednesday’s advance and 10-Year Treasury yields were steady at near 2.6% amid speculation Congress will avert a government shutdown.

West Texas oil was flat on signs US crude stockpiles continued to shrink.

Gains in the European equity market came after Chinese

shares in Hong Kong added to their 2018 surge thanks to better-than-expected growth data. That’s only added to the narrative of synchronized global expansion, which - alongside upbeat profit expectations - could mean the bull run in stocks going until 2019 or beyond, according to a Bank of America survey of fund managers.

Elsewhere, gold climbed following two days of declines and Bitcoin steadied above $11 000 after a day of wild swings. Emerging-market stocks gained a fifth day.

Here’s what to watch out for this week:

US housing starts probably slipped in December for the first time in three months as frigid winter weather impeded work, forecasts show ahead of Thursday’s release. Central banks in Indonesia, Turkey and South Africa are all expected to keep policy unchanged.

And these are the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.1% as of 9:19am London time, to the highest in more than a week. The MSCI All-Country World Index dipped 0.1%. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index fell 0.2% to the lowest in more than a week.

Germany’s DAX Index gained 0.4%, the largest rise in almost two weeks.

Currencies

The euro advanced 0.2% to $1.2209. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.1%. The British pound rose less than 0.05% to $1.3834, hitting the strongest in 19 months.

South Africa’s rand climbed 0.4% to 12.2493 per dollar, the strongest in more than two years.

Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased less than one basis point to 2.59%, the highest in about 10 months. Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.33%. Germany’s 10-year yield gained one basis point to 0.58%, the biggest gain in a week.

Commodities

Gold advanced 0.1% to $1 328.67 an ounce. West Texas Intermediate crude was unchanged at $63.97 a barrel. LME copper advanced 0.7% to $7 085.50 per metric tonne.