The China Mail - Equities extend record run, oil eases

Brushing off geopolitical concerns triggered by the surprise US raid Saturday on Caracas that saw Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife taken to New York, some major stock markets have begun the new year with all-time highs, having already smashed records in 2025.

Seoul rose more than one percent Tuesday to top 4,500 points for the first time, helped by another strong rally in chip giant SK hynix.

That came after the Dow ended at a record high Monday on Wall Street, boosted by a rally of technology titans Amazon and Meta.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index reached a new high Tuesday above 10,000 points, with investors expecting more cuts to British interest rates to bolster growth in 2026.

"Yesterday it was the Dow Jones and Dax at record highs, and today the FTSE 100 has joined the party, barely a week after its last record high," said IG trading platform analyst Chris Beauchamp.

He said investors don't appear to be fazed by tensions within the Western alliance following the US raid or about high stock valuations.

"Global equities are likely to keep looking through the geopolitical shock unless it threatens the broader supply chain or tightens financial conditions, because geopolitics has become a persistent feature rather than a surprise," said Charu Chanana, chief investment strategist at Saxo Markets.

"Equities can continue grinding higher if earnings expectations, liquidity, and rate expectations remain supportive, especially in tech," she added.

Shares in Nvidia rose more than one percent at the start of trading after the world's most valuable company unveiled its latest AI platform the previous evening, although they later gave up much of those gains.

Wall Street's main stock indices continued to push higher, with the Dow falling just short of setting a fresh all-time high.

Traders are awaiting key US jobs data due Friday for clues on the outlook for interest rates.

The Federal Reserve is expected to keep cutting American borrowing costs this year, but how many times remains unclear.

Oil prices pulled lower after having spent much of Tuesday higher.

Oil prices have experienced choppy trading since Saturday's US raid.

While Venezuela sits on about a fifth of the world's oil reserves, observers pointed out that a quick ramp-up of output would be hamstrung by several issues including its creaking infrastructure, low prices and political uncertainty.

"With the country pumping less than one percent of the world's oil after years of underinvestment, any major near-term disruption looks more bark than bite," Matt Britzman, senior equity analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, said Tuesday.

- Key figures at around 1630 GMT -

Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $61.56 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.5 percent at $58.04 per barrel

New York - Dow: UP 0.5 percent at 49,212.28 points

New York - S&P 500: UP 0.2 percent at 6,915.88

New York - Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.1 percent at 23,424.98

London - FTSE 100: UP 1.2 percent at 10,122.73 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 8,237.43 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX: UP less than 0.1 percent at 24,892.20 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.3 percent at 52,518.08 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.4 percent at 26,710.45 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.5 percent at 4,083.67 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1688 from $1.1714 on Monday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3498 from $1.3525

Dollar/yen: UP at 156.71 yen from 156.31 yen

Euro/pound: UP at 86.59 pence from 86.57 pence

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A.Sun--ThChM