European markets were mostly higher Thursday in the aftermath of the riots at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump.
The FTSE index in Britain was down 0.4% at midday. France’s CAC-40 gained 0.3%, and the DAX index in Germany rose 0.4%.
Asian markets rose significantly hours earlier. Tokyo’s Nikkei index finished 1.6% higher. The Composite index in Shanghai was up 0.7%. Seoul’s KOSPI index soared 2.1%, and the TSEC index in Taipei finished 1.5% higher.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index closed down 0.5%, while Mumbai’s Sensex dropped 0.1%. In Australia, Sydney’s S&P/ASX index gained 1.5%.
The elections of Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff in Tuesday’s U.S. Senate runoff elections in the southern state of Georgia, giving Democrats control of both houses of Congress, has raised expectations among investors that lawmakers will approve increased domestic spending under the incoming Biden administration.
In commodities trading, gold was selling at $1,917.6 per ounce, up 0.4%. U.S. crude oil was selling at $50.87 per barrel, up 0.4%, and Brent crude oil was virtually unchanged percentage-wise at $54.34 per barrel (+0.07%).
All three major U.S. indices were trending higher in futures trading ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street.
