Global stocks held firm yesterday as oil prices hit their highest price in a year and Apple shares rose on further trouble for rival smartphone maker Samsung.
London’s FTSE 100 gained 0.8% at 7,097.50 points as traders digested last week’s market volatility that saw the pound sink to a 31-year low against the dollar over Brexit concerns.
A weak currency typically lifts the earnings of exporters.
Frankfurt rose 1.3% at 10,624.08 points followed by Paris with a 1.1% increase at 4,497.26, gaining momentum from a firmer Wall Street where petroleum-linked shares advanced.
Brent North Sea crude rose to $53.45 a barrel, its highest price in a year, after President Vladimir Putin indicated Russia was ready to join measures to limit global oil production.
West Texas Intermediate also rose, hitting its highest level since June.
“A jump in crude prices helped lift US stocks in early trading after another fascinating presidential debate left markets’ favourite Hillary Clinton with a firm lead in the polls,” analyst Jasper Lawler, of CMC markets, said in an investors note.
A win by Donald Trump, Clinton’s White House rival in November’s elections “would initially be negative for sentiment in global financial markets”, Capital Economics’ Julian Jessop said.
“The uncertainty caused by a Trump win would reduce the chances that US interest rates are raised by the end of the year,” he said in a note to clients.
It would also likely see the dollar weaken against traditional safe havens such as the Japanese yen, he added.
In US trading, Apple rose as rival Samsung Electronics acknowledged it was adjusting production of the Galaxy Note 7 smartphone due to reports that replacement units for devices with exploding lithium-ion batteries were also catching fire.
Oanda analyst Craig Erlam said investors’ focus was still largely on last week’s so-called flash crash of the pound in Asia, in yesterday’s light trading volumes due to public holidays in some markets and ahead of the start of US corporate results season.
Britain’s finance minister Philip Hammond has downplayed the currency’s plunge, blaming technical factors, but Bank of England governor Mark Carney asked the bank for International Settlements to investigate.
“The BoE find themselves in an unenviable position because the British pound is trading at levels not seen in a generation, despite the United Kingdom remaining one of the strongest performing economies across the developed world,” Luzdary Hammad, of Action Global Communications, said.