BEIJING: Chinese stocks fell again on Thursday while other major global markets rose after the US Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at a record low.

In early trading, Germany’s DAX gained 0.2 per cent to 11,229.04 points and France’s CAC-40 was up 0.2pc at 5,029.86. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4pc to 6,655.83. On Wall Street, futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and S&P’s 500 both were off 0.1pc. On Wednesday, the Dow and the S&P both rose 0.7pc and the Nasdaq composite gained 0.4pc.

The Shanghai Composite Index fell 2.2pc to 3,705.77 for its third losing day this week. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.5pc to 24,497.98. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 advanced 1.1pc to 20,525.80 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.8pc to 5,669.50. Seoul’s Kospi shed 0.9pc to 2,019.03. Benchmarks in India, Taiwan and the Philippines rose.

Fed policymakers voted on Wednesday to leave interest rates unchanged and gave no indication a rise was imminent. The Fed said the US economy is improving but signalled that it wants to see further economic gains and higher inflation before raising rates. Many investors expect the Fed will still lift rates in Sept or Dec, but its statement gave no timing for the raise. Low interest rates have been good for stock investors, helping fuel a bull market that has lasted more than six years.

The dollar rose to 124.17 yen from Wednesday’s 123.90 yen. The euro edged down to $1.0980 from the previous session’s $1.0986.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2015

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