World stocks lifted by Wall Street surge as Iran fears boost oil

Paris, May 7: Stock markets across Asia and the eurozone rose on Monday following a blistering lead from Wall Street as a soft jobs report soothed concerns about rising US interest rates.

Oil prices extended a rally ahead of Donald Trump's decision on the future of the Iran nuclear deal.

All three main indexes in New York clocked up sizeable gains Friday after the non-farm payrolls report showed weak wage growth, soothing anxieties that the Federal Reserve could lift borrowing costs as many as four times this year to keep inflation in check.

Hong Kong was 0.2 percent higher and Shanghai surged 1.5 percent, while Sydney was 0.4 percent up. Wellington, Taipei, Jakarta and Manila were well up.

But Tokyo ended marginally lower as traders returned following an extended holiday weekend, while Singapore was 0.2 percent off.

Seoul was closed for a public holiday.

Europe's main market London was also shut for a holiday, but Frankfurt and Paris posted modest gains.

There are now worries that markets may have plateaued, with strong earnings unable to help push gains further, analysts said.

"The big surprise from this stellar earnings season is that the market hasn't broken higher," said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader.

"Certainly, the earnings have been there but it seems the narrative was molded by the comments of the Caterpillar (chief financial officer) who said the first quarter was likely the high-water mark.

"That he said that is not remarkable. That it resonated with the market is the important point."

(AFP/APP)