Euro rises on bets for ECB tightening

The euro extended its gains on Monday, trading at a two-and-a-half-year high against the dollar as currency traders believed a wind-down in European economic stimulus was not imminent.

European stocks also fell while Wall Street was directionless, buffeted in large part by worries over a pounding delivered to US energy infrastructure by Hurricane Harvey.

In much anticipated speeches on Friday, central bank chiefs from the US and Europe sidestepped the questions of economic stimulus and monetary policy.

This built investor expectations that a European bond-buying program could persist somewhat longer while chances for a third US interest rate hike in 2017 faded, also weakening the US dollar.

Wall Street ended split, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both flat while the Nasdaq gained 0.3 percent.

Bill Lynch of Hinsdale Associates told AFP the late-August trading was light, with little to push prices in any direction apart from the hurricane impact on Texas.

"No economic data or earnings reports of any consequence today," he said. "The market lacks any kind of direction."

Financials sagged, with Goldman Sachs falling a full percentage point, and oil stocks were hammered on expectations that falling demand from refineries would reduce crude prices: ConocoPhillips ended down 1.2 percent, while Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil all fell 0.4 percent

Refiners, on the other hand, spiked on an expected shortage of gasoline. Among others, CVR Energy soared 4.6 percent.

In Europe, Paris and Frankfurt stocks were weighed down by the strength of the euro. London was closed for a holiday.

Hong Kong extended its winning run into a fifth straight day, although early gains were pared on profit-taking.

But Wanda Hotel Development Co plunged almost 10 percent at one point even though the firm denied reports that chairman Wang Jianlin was barred from leaving China and detained for hours. It trimmed some of the losses but still ended down more than eight percent.

Shanghai added 0.9 percent but Tokyo ended flat, Sydney shed 0.6 percent and Seoul was off 0.4 percent.

Tech giant Samsung sank almost two percent in Seoul, extending Friday's losses after Lee Jae-Yong, de facto head of the world's biggest smart phone maker, was handed a five-year sentence for bribing South Korea's ousted president and other offenses.

- Key figures around 2100 GMT -

New York - Dow: FLAT at 21,808.40 (close)

New York - S&P 500: FLAT at 2,444.24 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.3 percent at 6,283.02 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.5 percent at 5,079.75 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.4 percent at 12,123.47 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.5 percent at 3,421.03 (close)

London - FTSE 100: Closed for public holiday

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: FLAT at 19,499.90 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.1 percent at 27,863.29 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.9 percent at 3,362.82 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1978 from $1.1919

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2933 from $1.2877

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 109.26 yen from 109.34 yen

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: DOWN $1.30 at $46.57 per barrel

Oil - Brent North Sea: DOWN 52 cents at $51.89 per barrel

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Source: AFP