Wall Street's main indexes opened subdued today, as investors took a breather after the main indexes posted their biggest intraday gains in weeks in the previous session, while markets braced for a data-heavy week of labour reports.
The Dow Jones inched 10 points (0.02%) higher at the open to stand at 48,987, while S&P 500 rose six points (0.09%) to trade at 6,908 and the Nasdaq Composite index gained 51 points (0.22%) to reach 23,447.
Most European markets continued to register gains this afternoon with oil and defence stocks extending gains after US strikes on Venezuela over the weekend. London's FTSE index had gained 116 points (1.1%) to stand at 10.20 by 2.40pm, while the Paris CAC added nine points (0.1%) to trade at 8,220 and the Frankfurt DAX rose 90 points (0.3%) to reach 24,959.
But Dublin's ISEQ index had dropped 109 points (0.8%) to hit 13,079. Shares in PTSB were down 2% to stand at €2.84 while Ryanair lost 1.2% to trade at €29.6. Shares in Kerry Group fell 1.1% to reach €73.45 and Bank of Ireland shed 1.1% to hit €16.75.
Earlier in Asian trade, Tokyo's Nikkei index gained 685 points (1.3%) to finish at 52,518 - a record closing high - as the outlook for domestic company's profits improved. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 363 points (1.4%) to finish at 26,710 as investor sentiment remained upbeat ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.
