Global Stocks Waver Amid Geopolitical Tensions and Market Data

Global stock markets experienced a downturn, influenced by geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and mixed economic data. While equity markets in the U.S. and Europe suffered, Japan's Nikkei rose. Oil prices increased due to conflict fears, while gold declined as the U.S. dollar strengthened. Treasury yields rose as jobless claims and service sector data were released.

Global stock markets faced a decline on Thursday, primarily due to subdued equity trading across major international markets, despite oil price gains amid mounting geopolitical tensions linked to the Middle East conflict. Wall Street's key indexes trimmed early gains and traded marginally lower.

In market movements, the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 0.50%, the S&P 500 by 0.30%, and the Nasdaq Composite by 0.21%. European markets also trended downwards, showing a 0.92% drop, reflecting weak business activity survey data. MSCI's global stock gauge declined by 0.44%.

Asia-Pacific stocks, excluding Japan, fell by 1% overnight, heavily influenced by a pullback in Hong Kong following earlier surges. In contrast, Japan's Nikkei rose 2% following the newly elected prime minister's remarks against hiking rates. Concerns over the Beirut bombing by Israel intensified regional geopolitical tensions, raising oil prices by nearly 4%.

(With inputs from agencies.)