London — World stocks edged higher on Thursday as investors used signs of an easing of China-US trade tensions to dip back into riskier assets. The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, climbed 0.4%, while shares in Europe jumped 1.6% to a two-week high. Cyclical sectors including basic resources, cars and banks, hit particularly hard over the past two sessions in Europe, led gains. Sentiment was lifted as Washington expressed a willingness to negotiate, after proposed US tariffs on $50bn of Chinese goods prompted swift retaliation from Beijing. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.6%, a day after it hit its lowest in almost two months. Japan’s Nikkei ended 1.5% higher. Markets in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan were closed for the Tomb Sweeping Day holiday on Thursday. US S&P 500 mini futures rose 0.5%, with Wall Street set to extend Wednesday’s rebound. Proposed 25% US tariffs on some 1,300 industrial technology, transport ...
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