NEW YORK: MSCI’s global equities index was barely higher on Friday while Wall Street trading was choppy and the dollar lost ground as a US trade deal with Britain fueled guarded optimism for US tariff negotiations with China and other countries.

MSCI’s broadest index of world shares rose rose 1.14 points, or 0.13pc, to 846.99 while US indexes were close to flat.

On Wall Street, at 02:46 p.m. the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 86.14 points, or 0.22pc, to 41,279.12, the S&P 500 fell 0.84 points, or 0.03pc, to 5,662.35 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 7.29 points, or 0.04pc, to 17,920.50.

Earlier, the pan-European STOXX 600 index finished up 0.44pc while Germany’s Dax stock index ended up 0.63pc for a record closing high.

In currencies, the dollar was down on the day but eying a weekly gain against major currencies, including the Swiss franc, yen and euro on optimism about upcoming US-China talks. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro, fell 0.29pc to 100.36.

The euro up 0.25pc on the day at $1.1255 and against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.42pc to 145.29. In cryptocurrencies, bitcoin eyed its fourth straight day of gains, up 0.67pc to $103,317.75.

Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2025