World markets steady after UAE central bank pledge to banks

World markets steady after UAE central bank pledge

LONDON — World stock markets steadied Monday, particularly in Asia, as concerns about a possible default in Dubai were soothed by a pledge from the United Arab Emirates’ central bank that it will stand behind local and foreign banks.

Last week’s announcement from Dubai World, a government investment company with some $60 billion worth of debts, that it wanted to postpone forthcoming debt payments until May sent shockwaves around financial markets.

Those shockwaves were still evident in the emirates’ stock markets, where traders returned from the Eid holiday, but the central bank’s reassurances steadied market confidence.

“The commitment to providing liquidity for lenders has gone some way to help shore up confidence amongst investors,” said Tim Hughes, head of sales trading at IG Index.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 9.52 points, or 0.2 percent, at 5,236.21 while Germany’s DAX fell 18.37 points, or 0.3 percent, to 5,667.24. The CAC-40 in France managed to tweak out some gains rising by just over a point to 3,722.69.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 23.13 points, or 0.2 percent, at 10,333.05 soon after the open while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 2.4 points, or 0.2 percent, to 1,093.89.

Though the markets have managed to steady Monday, there are still concerns that Dubai’s problems may be a harbinger of things to come, even though the announcement from the UAE central bank may minimize the risk of contagion.

“It is a warning sign that sovereign credit risks are likely to remain a problem — Ireland, Greece and Britain, for example — and the deterioration in budget deficits and debt/GDP ratios will remain a key feature for some time,” said Neil Mackinnon, global strategist at VTB Capital.

If, and when, the Dubai concerns diminish, investors have a raft of economic news this week to digest, which could well be crucial in how markets end the year.

Friday’s U.S. nonfarm payrolls report for November will be key — the data often sets the tone in markets for a week or two. However, there are other important U.S. releases due, including the Institute for Supply Management’s surveys into the services and manufacturing sectors.

If investors conclude that the U.S. economy is losing some steam, then that could well pave the way for an end of year bout of profit-taking following an eight-month bull run.

Earlier in Asia, nearly every market traded higher, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average climbing 264.03 points, or 2.9 percent, to 9,345.55. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng added 687.00 points, or 3.3 percent, to 21,821.50 and South Korea’s Kospi added 2 percent to 1,555.60. Both those markets tumbled nearly 5 percent on Friday.

Elsewhere, Shanghai’s market climbed 3.2 percent, Australia’s index was 2.8 percent higher and Taiwan’s benchmark rose 1.2 percent.

Stocks in the UAE ended sharply lower though, with Abu Dhabi’s main index down 8 percent and Dubai’s closing more than 7 percent lower.

Elsewhere, oil prices steadied, with benchmark crude up 37 cents at $76.42 a barrel, while gold rose 0.1 percent t0 $1,175.60 an ounce.

The dollar fell 0.5 percent to 86.25 yen, while the euro was steady at $1.5010.

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AP Business Writer Jeremiah Marquez in Hong Kong contributed to this report.