Futures point to positive open for US stocks, European markets higher

The dollar rose to 123.25 yen from 122.72 yen and the euro fell to $1.0680 from $1.0740.

In neighboring China, exchanges also took a hit in early trading, but most sectors managed to reverse losses later in the afternoon as fears eased.

MARKET IMPACT: Friday’s attacks in Paris, which killed 129 people, make it even more likely that the European Central Bank will expand its stimulus program at the conclusion of its December meeting, analysts said.

The main French market, the Euronext, has made it clear it will not be cowed down by the terror attacks. “That might be the case if you saw a series of these things, but hopefully that’s not what’s going to happen and the economy is not going to be affected”.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 74 points, or 0.4 percent, to 17,319 as of 11:45 a.m. Eastern time Monday. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up a fraction at 2,053. However, he said he expected the Paris-linked losses to be brief and pointed out that markets had bounced back from initial selling following past terror attacks. Stocks wavered for a while, but began to climb steadily by midday as crude oil prices perked up, pushing up energy stocks.

The energy sector has been the biggest laggard among industries this year, down 14.9 percent, as the slide in oil prices has deepened. And a barrel of benchmark NY crude oil was up 2.5 percent at $41.76 a barrel. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index advanced 1.9 percent to 22,426.20 while Shanghai Composite index in mainland China rose 1.5 percent to 3,661.71.

HOTEL DEAL: Marriott global announced it is buying rival hotel chain Starwood for $12.2 billion in cash and stock.

In currency markets, the euro dropped about 0.5 percent to $1.07205, after logging a flat performance last week. French hotel group Accor dropped 4.7 per cent and Air France shed 5.7 per cent.

“Considering that 50% of total tourists worldwide travel for leisure, and the other 50% travel for business purposes and that gateway cities such as Paris are more driven by business clientele than leisure, the hit could be lower, but it is still too early and unpredictable to gauge the real consequences”, said Kepler. The greenback was helped by the euro’s fall to $1.0643, its weakest since mid-April. Delta Air Lines lost $1.37, or 2.8 percent, to $47.62.

Meanwhile, expectations for a December rate hike by the Federal Reserve also kept the dollar on a bullish footing.

“At this juncture, it is easy to see that the Fed’s intentions to “normalise” monetary policy could be derailed by a combination of adverse domestic economic and external events”, said Neil MacKinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital.

Leading the losers were the Nikkei stock index which tumbled almost 1.3 percent, almost wiping out last week’s 1.7 percent gain as latest economic data undershot expectations. Spot gold gained 0.8 per cent to US$1,092.45 an ounce, rebounding further from its low on Thursday of US$1,074.26, which was its deepest nadir since February 2010.

Traders were eyeing USA inflation data due at 1330 GMT, forecast by a Reuters poll to show a 0.1 percent year-on-year pick-up in consumer prices.

With concerns about how European leaders would respond to the Paris attacks, the euro was sold heavily in Asian trading and fell to a six-month low of $1.071.