Morning Briefing: Markets mixed, oil falls on US inventories

Markets mixed, oil falls on US inventories... Global growth expected to boost shipping sector says Maersk boss...

Morning Briefing: Markets mixed, oil falls on US inventories
Steve Randall
Markets mixed, oil falls on US inventories
Equity markets are mixed so far Wednesday as political concern is tempered by corporate earnings.

Asian indexes ended their session mostly higher, despite the 1 per cent drop for oil prices after the American Petroleum Institute estimated higher US crude inventories for last week.

In Europe, markets are trending higher too with corporate earnings taking centre stage, although political concerns in the region and in the US are still in the minds of investors.

Wall Street and Toronto are expected to open higher. Canadian housing starts data is due.
 
  Latest 1 month ago 1 year ago
 
North America (previous session)
US Dow Jones 20,090.29 (+0.19 per cent) +0.63 per cent +25.35 per cent
TSX Composite 15,498.80 (+0.27 per cent) +0.02 per cent +23.64 per cent
 
Europe (at 5.00am ET)
UK FTSE 7,185.34 (-0.01 per cent) -0.34 per cent +26.29 per cent
German DAX 11,575.58 (+0.23 per cent) -0.20 per cent +28.91 per cent
 
Asia (at close)
China CSI 300 3,383.29 (+0.52 per cent) +1.06 per cent +14.15 per cent
Japan Nikkei 19,007.60 (+0.51 per cent) -2.30 per cent +11.78 per cent
 
Other Data (at 5.00am ET)
Oil (Brent) Oil (WTI) Gold Can. Dollar
54.62
(-0.78 per cent)
51.59
(-1.11 per cent)
1237.50
(+0.11 per cent)
U$0.7598
 
Aus. Dollar
U$0.7635

 
Global growth expected to boost shipping sector says Maersk boss
The chief executive of the world’s largest shipping firm in terms of capacity, is expecting a rebound in demand this year as the global economy grows.

Danish firm AP Moller-Maersk, operators of Maersk Line, told CNBC that he expects the balance between supply and demand to even out this year with his firm forecasting a 2 to 4 per cent growth in its flagship line.

"The fourth quarter of 2016 was the first quarter since 2010 where the demand outgrew supply, and actually by some margin," Soren Skou told CNBC.

Maesrk missed the group earnings expected by a Reuters poll of analysts for 2016 but its Maersk Line is forecast to add $1 billion this year.

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