Stocks rise tracking political upheaval, data

AFP | London

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Global stock markets mostly rose yesterday as traders focused on political upheaval in France and Japan, in addition to mixed economic data.

Oil prices rallied as OPEC+ agreed to boost supplies at a slower pace, analysts said.

The price of gold hit a fresh record high above $3,600 an ounce as the precious metal continues to benefit from its status as a safe haven investment.

"Political uncertainty is making waves on markets at the start of the week, but sentiment remains largely upbeat," noted Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown stockbrokers.

"The resignation of Japan's Prime Minister has caused ructions, with the yen diving on the news, stocks making sharp gains and government bond yields rising again."

Tokyo's Nikkei stocks index closed up 1.5%, with Japanese exporters benefiting from a slide in the yen's value.

Japanese bond yields also climbed after PM Shigeru Ishiba said Sunday he would step down after less than a year in power -- during which he lost his majority in both houses of parliament -- heralding uncertainty for the world's fourth-largest economy.

In Europe, the Paris stock market climbed in afternoon deals and the euro rose as French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou was set to lose a confidence vote in parliament on Monday, costing him the job after nine months in the role.

Bayrou blindsided even his allies by calling a confidence vote to end a months-long standoff over his austerity budget, which foresees almost 44 billion euros ($52 billion) of cost savings to reduce France's debt pile.

Bayrou called France's debt level "life-threatening" for the country, adding: "The biggest risk was not to take one, to let things continue without anything changing..."

The European Central bank is expected to hold interest rates steady again this week with inflation under control and US tariff tensions easing.

Friday's US jobs data has cemented expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut later this month.

Wall Street stocks mostly rose at the start of trading, after falls suffered on Friday on worse-than-expected jobs figures.

Official data Monday showed falling Chinese exports to the United States had been offset by a jump in those to Southeast Asia and Europe.

Trade tensions between Beijing and Washington have been on a rollercoaster ride this year, with both sides slapping escalating tariffs on each other.

Europe's biggest economy Germany revealed Monday that its exports to the US dropped in July to their lowest level since 2021, data showed Monday.

At the weekend, eight key members of the OPEC+ alliance agreed to again boost oil production, in a strategy analysts saw as a bid to gain a bigger market share of crude sales.

Oil ministers in the V8 grouping -- comprising Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman -- decided to increase production by 137,000 barrels a day from next month.

Those countries had already increased production by 2.2 million bpd in recent months.