World stock markets mostly weakened Friday as investors watched the G-7 summit of leaders and oil prices stabilized after falling sharply over a production cut deal.
KEEPING SCORE: In Europe, France’s CAC 40 was down 0.7 percent to 5,301 and Germany’s DAX lost 0.5 percent to 12,562. Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.2 percent to 7,529. Wall Street was poised to open lower, with Dow and S&P 500 futures both slipping 0.1 percent.
WORLD LEADERS: President Donald Trump and other leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations are meeting in Italy. The leaders, who once found broad agreement but are now increasingly divided, will be looking to build trust among themselves as they try to find common ground on issues including climate change, trade and the global economy.
QUOTEWORTHY: “The G-7 summit that is starting today is unlikely to bring a much brighter outlook in terms of U.S. policy. As Trump meets with the other world leaders, differences remain large,” Bas van Gaffen of Rabobank said in a commentary. “Indeed, Trump’s protectionist tone doesn’t appear to be weakening.”
CRUDE CUT: Oil prices bottomed out after a sharp selloff triggered by a deal by an alliance of oil-producing nations to extend production cuts for nine months to shore up crude prices. The deal was widely expected by analysts, but disappointed investors who were hoping for a longer extension. Benchmark U.S. crude lost rose 14 cents to $49.04 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract shed $2.46, or 4.8 percent, on Thursday. Brent crude, the international standard, rose 21 cents to $51.67 a barrel in London.
JAPAN PRICES: Inflation ticked up to a two-year high last month on rising energy costs, according to the latest official data. The figures offer some hope that people in Asia’s second-largest economy might be spurred to start spending more as growth recovers although economists say the consumer price index’s 0.3 percent increase is not likely to rise further.
ASIA’S DAY: Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index shed 0.6 percent to 19,686.84 but South Korea’s Kospi climbed 0.5 percent to 2,355.30. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was nearly unchanged at 25,639.27 and the Shanghai Composite index in mainland China climbed ended less than 0.1 percent higher at 3,110.06. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 percent to 5,751.50. Taiwan’s benchmark fell and indexes in Southeast Asia were mostly lower.
CURRENCIES: The dollar dipped to 110.89 yen from 111.84 yen in late Thursday trading. The euro rose to $1.1219 from $1.1209.