BANGKOK — Shares were mixed Monday in Europe and Asia, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading advances after stocks rose on Wall Street. Oil prices rose as the status of efforts to end the conflict in the Middle East remained uncertain. In early European trading, Germany’s DAX rose 0.3 per cent to 26,411.01, while the CAC 40 in Paris edged 0.1 per cent lower, to 8,703.73. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 0.3 per cent to 10,869.35. The future for the S&P 500 was up 0.1 per cent, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1 per cent. In Tokyo, the benchmark Nikkei 225 jumped 2.1 per cent to 66,970.22, pulled higher by strong gains for technology companies. Computer chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron climbed 4.1 per cent, while chip testing device maker Advantest rose 6.4 per cent. In South Korea, the gains were more modest, as the Kospi added 0.7 per cent to 6,299.66 as shares in major chipmakers slipped. Samsung Electronics lost 0.4 per cent, while its smaller rival, memory chipmaker SK Hynix, lost 0.1 per cent. Analysts said foreign investors were selling shares in the Big Tech companies to lock in profits from recent gains and rebalance holdings into other industries, such as defense contractors. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 1.1 per cent to 25,937.49, while the Shanghai Composite index picked up 0.7 per cent to 3,966.59. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3 per cent to 9,232.60. Taiwan’s Taiex surged 1.6 per cent and the Sensex in India was nearly unchanged. Oil prices rose after Israel rejected a deal announced by U.S. President Donald Trump for Gaza. Details emerged on the potential deal between Iran and Oman on managing the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran suggested that vessels linked to “hostile countries” would be barred. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels struck a government-held port on the country’s Red Sea coast, deepening fears over threats to strategic shipping routes and a potential return to civil war. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 0.8 per cent to US$84.23 per barrel. U.S. benchmark crude advanced 0.7 per cent to US$78.72 per barrel. “Negotiators said that a deal to establish a safe shipping route was close, but Iran may now be exploring just how much it can extract from the U.S. in return,” Bas van Geffen, senior macro strategist for Rabobank, said in a commentary. This week, investors will get several important inflation updates for the U.S. The most closely watched will be the consumer price index, or CPI, which measures costs for consumers. Inflation in July is forecast to have risen at a 3.4 per cent rate, easing slightly from 3.5 per cent in June. Inflation has held stubbornly above 3 per cent for most of the year. On Friday, U.S. stocks rose and Treasury yields fell after the government reported that employers unexpectedly cut 23,000 jobs last month. A weaker jobs market raised hopes the Federal Reserve might wait longer before raising interest rates to fight inflation. That buoyed share prices, pushing every major index to a second straight week of gains and several fresh records. The S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent to 7,757.64, topping an all-time high. The Dow industrials rose 0.3 per cent to 54,036.93, just short of the record it set on Wednesday. The Nasdaq composite rose 1.3 per cent to 26,690.62. Overall, the jobs report dimmed one of the brighter areas of the economy, adding to worries about household spending at a time of high inflation. It included a revision to the figures for June and May that involved slashing a combined 103,000 jobs from payrolls for those months. Slowing employment complicates the Fed’s effort to balance job growth with fighting inflation. Higher interest rates can help tame inflation by slowing economic growth, but businesses will find it more difficult to expand under increased borrowing rates. As usual, technology stocks did much of the heavy lifting for the broader market. Nvidia jumped 2.3 per cent and Broadcom rose 1.7 per cent. In other dealings early Monday, the U.S. dollar rose to 158.72 Japanese yen from 157.71 yen. The euro fell to US$1.15617 from US$1.1568. Elaine Kurtenbach, The Associated Press
