NEW YORK - Another steep decline in the Turkish lira on Friday pushed emerging market equities lower and kept other world markets cautious, overshadowing hopes that an upcoming U.S.-China meeting would relieve concerns over trade tariffs.
Specialist trader Meric Greenbaum works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., August 17, 2018. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
MSCI’s All-Country World index, which tracks shares in 47 countries, fell less than 0.1 percent, leaving the index on track for its third straight weekly decline.
A Chinese delegation led by Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen will meet U.S. representatives, China’s Ministry of Commerce said in a statement, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that talks will take place in Washington on Aug. 21 and 22.
The world’s two largest economies are due to slap tariffs on billions of dollars of each other’s goods on Aug. 23, in addition to levies that took effect on July 6.
“There is still a great deal of difference between agreeing to talk and coming to an agreement,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
“For now it appears an escalation has become less likely, hence (Thursday’s) rebound in equity markets,” he added, referring to an overnight rally on Wall Street.
In mid-morning trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 19.62 points, or 0.08 percent, to 25,578.35, the S&P 500 lost 2.28 points, or 0.08 percent, to 2,838.41 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 42.53 points, or 0.54 percent, to 7,763.99.
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index lost 0.34 percent.
Turkey’s lira tumbled as much as 8.5 percent to 6.3 per dollar, having recovered ground
