Pound gains as British PM May survives vote, global stocks advance

NEW YORK -- The British pound rose Wednesday as British Prime Minister Theresa May survived a no-confidence vote in parliament while global stocks rallied on improved hopes for the US-China trade talks.

May won the support of 200 Conservative lawmakers, but 117 voted to oust her. And she only survived after conceding she would step down before the 2022 election.

The pound rallied ahead of the vote and stood at $1.2629 soon after the result was announced. That's a gain of 1.1 percent from Tuesday, but below the peak value earlier in the session amid expectations May would garner a more sweeping win.

The "victory has increased her authority within her party slightly, but it does nothing to change the arithmetic in parliament which ultimately will determine the outcome of Brexit," said Samuel Tombs, chief UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics.

"The rebellion ... was within the 100-to-120 range widely expected beforehand, hence the negligible market reaction to the news."

European bourses rose in anticipation of the outcome in a rally also bolstered by better headlines surrounding the US-China trade talks.

Paris fizzed 2.2 percent higher, Frankfurt gained 1.4 percent and London won 1.1 percent. Shares in Milan rose 1.9, supported as well by media reports that Italy could propose a new budget with less of a deficit to ease its dispute with the EU.

Wall Street advanced, with the Dow finishing up 0.6 percent.

US-CHINA DEAL?

Unlike the last 2 sessions, there were no major gyrations lower on Wednesday. But stocks still finished well below their session highs, with the Dow falling about 300 points from its peak in the last three hours of trading.

The latest indicators have been more upbeat on the state of play between Beijing and Washington, with a Chinese Huawei executive granted bail by a Canadian court in a closely-watched legal case, and confirmation from Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross that Beijing offered to cut tariffs on US autos and resume soybean imports.

"The fading action was in keeping with a trend of selling into strength and likely reflected some nervousness about holding positions overnight given the headline-induced volatility of late," said Briefing.com.

VTB Capital analyst Neil MacKinnon said, "News flow regarding developments in the US-China trade dispute has been notoriously erratic and positive news can quickly give way to negative news."

KEY FIGURES AROUND 2130 GMT

New York - Dow Jones: UP 0.6 percent at 24,527.27 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 2,651.07 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 1.0 percent at 7,098.31 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 1.1 percent at 6,880.19 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.4 percent at 10,929.43 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 2.2 percent at 4,909.45 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.7 percent at 3,107.97 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 2.2 percent at 21,602.75 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 1.6 percent at 26,186.71 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.3 percent at 2,602.15 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2629 from $1.2487 at 2200 GMT

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1365 from $1.1317 

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 113.22 yen from 113.38 

Oil - Brent Crude: DOWN 5 cents at $60.15 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate DOWN 50 cents at $51.15 per barrel

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global markets: Mexican peso rises after Trump-Clinton debate, pound falls

LONDON - Sterling fell again on Monday, after largely recovering from Friday's "flash crash", while the Mexican peso and US stock futures rose as investors saw less chance of Republican nominee Donald Trump winning next month's presidential election.

The pound dropped half a percent against a dollar boosted by expectations the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in December even after slightly weaker than expected jobs data on Friday.

The UK currency last stood at $1.2402, down 0.2 percent. Its trade-weighted index fell 0.7 percent to its lowest since early 2009.

"I guess that we have to prepare for further weakness," said Hans Redeker, head of G10 currency strategy at Morgan Stanley in London.

In early Asian trade on Friday, it fell 20 percent to a three-decade low of $1.1491 in minutes as a fall on investor concerns over Britain's impending exit from the European Union snowballed as automated computer trades were triggered.

Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent but outperformed other major European stocks as the internationally-focused companies on the index gain on overseas revenues and competitiveness when the pound fall.

The more domestically-focused FTSE 250 index was down 0.2 percent and British 10-year government bond yields rose 1.3 basis points to 0.992 percent.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 0.4 percent. One of the leading decliners was Deutsche Bank, down nearly 3 percent after Chief Executive John Cryan failed to secure a speedy deal with the US Department of Justice at the weekend over the misselling of mortgage-backed securities.

For Reuters' new Live Markets blog on European and UK stock markets see reuters://realtime/verb=Open/url=http://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?pageId=livemarkets

Another notable mover on currency markets was the Mexican peso, which at one point was up 2 percent at 18.91 to the dollar as Trump's chances of winning the White House seemed diminished after the second pre-election debate with Democratic Party candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump has vowed to build a wall on the border with Mexico and renegotiate or scrap the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if he is elected, making the peso somewhat of a barometer of his chances. The Mexican currency was last up 1.9 percent at 18.96 per dollar.

A CNN/ORC snap poll of debate watchers found that 57 percent thought Clinton won the encounter, versus 34 percent for Trump.

US stocks index futures were up about 0.2 percent, suggesting Wall Street will open higher. US stock markets are open on Monday, though the bond market is closed for the Columbus Day holiday.

Earlier, Asian shares eked out minor gains. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1 percent. Japanese markets were closed for a holiday.

Chinese shares racked up their biggest gains in two months as investors returned from a week-long holiday and caught up with gains on global markets.

YUAN

China's yuan, however, hit a six-year low against the dollar before recovering. The People's Bank of China set the weakest fix for currency since September 2010 and in the spot market fell as low as 6.7051, also its lowest since September 2010.

It last traded at 6.7025, down just 0.03 percent on the day.

Oil prices fell, with investors skeptical an agreement among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output would have a major impact.

Brent crude, the international benchmark, was down 18 cents at $51.73 a barrel.

"A meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC producers (namely Russia) will add to oil headlines this week. Don't expect a firm agreement from Russia, but headlines about cooperation are likely," Morgan Stanley said.

Gold last traded at $1,263 an ounce, up 0.6 percent, lifted by demand from returning Chinese investors.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com