Global markets gain after restoration of nuclear facilities in Japan

By Varinder Bansal, Research Analyst at CNBC-TV18

Global markets gained on Monday amid news that Japan has made progress in its efforts to restore damaged nuclear facilities.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 178.01 points or 1.5% at 12,036.53. The NASDAQ Composite ended at 2,692.09, with gaining 48.42 points or 1.83% and the S&P 500 Index jumped 19.18 points or 1.50%, to close at 1,298.38.

European markets hit one-week high; CAC was up 2.5%, DAX up 2.3% and FTSE up 1.2%. CBOE VIX ended down 15.6% at 20.61.

Asian markets opened higher; Nikkei bounced back 3% as it opened after 3 days. Taiwan was up 0.8% and Kospi up 0.4%. Hang Seng and Straits Times gained just 0.1%.

SGX Nifty was up 0.2%.

Japan & Middle East update

There were reports that the engineers had restored electricity to three reactors at the Fukushima plant and hoped to test water pumps at the damaged facility soon. Tokyo Electric resumes work to restore power at reactors numbers 1-4.

Middle East: Gunfire, explosions rock Tripoli for 3rd night. US general sees decline in attacks on Libya. France says it hopes Libyan government will collapse from within.

Global M&S

Deutsche Telekom surged 11% after AT&T acquires T-Mobile from company in USD 39 billion deal.

Citigroup was down 1.5%; the company announced 10-for-1 reverse split and intent to reinstate its USD 0.01 quarterly dividend

US economic news

February existing home sales at 4.88 million while market expected 5.05 million

Currencies

Dollar was down 35 bps versus Euro at 1.4225

Yen was down 16 bps versus USD at 81

Dollar fell 56 bps versus Pound.

Australian Dollar was down 50 bps as against USD

Commodities

Crude oil was up 1.3% at USD 102.33/barrel

April natural gas contract was unchanged at USD 4.16 per MMBtu

May silver contract went up 2.8% at USD 36/ounce

April gold contract rose 0.8% at USD 1426.4/ounce

Data to watch

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