Culture

 

British Queen celebrates

 

London's stock market fell Monday on a rallying pound, while eurozone indices lost earlier gains to close flat after a pre-weekend surge triggered by well-received US jobs data.

Wall Street was closed for a public holiday.

Oil prices bounced after the world's two biggest oil producers, Saudi Arabia and Russia, pledged to stabilise the market.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index was 0.2 percent lower, as the pound jumped above $1.33 in the wake of strong UK services sector activity that further eased concerns over Brexit's economic fallout.

"August saw the UK economy score a hat-trick of good news with a record rebound in the services PMI to round things off after solid readings for the manufacturing and construction sectors," said Forex.com analyst Fawad Razaqzada.

"This is really good news for the pound, perhaps not so good for UK stocks in the short-term as it reduces the odds for further rate cuts from the Bank of England."

Activity in Britain's crucial services sector showed a record jump in August, rebounding strongly from a slump immediately following the country's vote to exit the EU, according to a survey.

 

 

- 'Persisting high uncertainty' -

The PMI for the services industry surged to 52.9 points in August, from 47.4 in July. A reading under 50 indicates shrinkage to activity.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, meanwhile, tried to start shaping the country's post-EU access to world markets as she met global leaders at the G20 summit in China, facing a Japanese warning over the fallout from Brexit.

The pound has lost 10 to 15 percent of its value against the euro and the dollar since the June 23 referendum.

"In the long term, we continue to expect sterling depreciation. High uncertainty surrounding the Brexit negotiations and its impact on the UK economy will persist for a long time," UniCredit's Vasileios Gkionakis said in a note to investors.

In eurozone stocks trading, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index and the Paris CAC 40 were flat.

Europe's main indices closed between 1.4 and 2.3 percent higher on Friday, as a slowdown in US jobs creation doused expectations for an interest rate hike this month from the Federal Reserve, while at the same time showing the world's top economy was still improving.

Playing catch-up Monday, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed at a three-month high, leading a broader rally across Asia.

The much-anticipated jobs reading on Friday showed 151,000 new posts in August, below expectations but indicating that hiring remained solid.

Before its release, analysts had seen the reading as a guide to the Fed's plans after its boss Janet Yellen -- and later her vice chairman Stanley Fischer -- suggested a rate rise could come this year.

Oil prices rallied by up to five percent after ministers from key crude producers Russia and Saudi Arabia declared they had agreed to "act together" to steady the market, on the G20's sidelines.

But Capital Economic's Tom Pugh said he saw nothing in the announcement "to change our view that oil prices will finish the year a little lower than they are now".

- Key figures around 1545 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.2 percent at 6,879.42 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.1 percent at 10,672.22 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.02 percent at 4,541.08 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.01 percent at 3,079.57

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.7 percent at 17,037.63 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 3,072.10 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.7 percent at 23,649.55 (close)

New York - DOW: UP 0.4 percent at 18,491.96 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3311 from $1.3294

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1147 from $1.1156 late Friday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 103.38 yen from 103.99 yen

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