London — Investors tentatively returned to world stock markets on Thursday, looking for bargains after Europe’s longest losing streak of the year and the worst run since March for the top global indices. After five consecutive daily losses on the MSCI index of world stocks and seven straight falls in Europe, there was a bounce of sorts. Benchmark indices in Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong and Seoul all rallied overnight, while London, Frankfurt and Paris started 0.3%-0.4% higher as cyclical stocks that had driven the sell-off made a comeback. There was some relief too that oil prices had pulled out of what had been an almost 5% drop and that upbeat US data on Wednesday had helped the dollar halt the euro’s sharp recent rise. "After five or six days of steady selling you have got people coming back in looking for bargains," said CMC Markets senior analyst Michael Hewson. "I think it’s temporary, though. We haven’t had a significant sell-off this year and the fact of the matter is that ...
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Subscribe now to unlock this article.
Support BusinessLIVE’s award-winning journalism for R129 per month (digital access only).
There’s never been a more important time to support independent journalism in SA. Our subscription packages now offer an ad-free experience for readers.
Cancel anytime.
Questions? Email helpdesk@businesslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00. Got a subscription voucher? Redeem it now.