Stock markets push higher despite N.Korea jitters

Stock markets in Europe and the United States mostly recovered on Wednesday, although the North Korean crisis remained on the minds of investors.

Gold hit near one-year highs as investors continued to flock to haven assets ahead of the European Central Bank's regular policy meeting on Thursday.

There was little movement between the dollar, euro and pound on Wednesday, noted analyst Connor Campbell at Spreadex.

"That'll be in part due to the fact that the week's main forex-event ?- tomorrow's ECB meeting ?- is yet to come, investors having little reason to change their positions until after (ECB chief Mario) Draghi's latest comments," he said.

John Cryan, head of Germany's biggest lender Deutsche Bank, urged the ECB to end its easy-money policy to avoid inflating market bubbles and relieve struggling eurozone lenders.

For now, though, the focus remained firmly on North Korea.

"Global stock markets appear to be in a period of nervous uncertainty, as the threat of another North Korean test looms large over any investors wishing to invest in risky assets," said Joshua Mahony, market analyst at IG trading group.

After a soft start due to a poor handover from Asia, European stocks perked up in afternoon trading.

Through his previous role as a sales trader, David has accumulated an excellent appreciation of what clients are looking for in market analysis, and this has also helped him when delivering live events to clients, such as seminars and webinars.

- Daimler dazzles -

Frankfurt finished the day up 0.8 percent, driven higher by carmakers.

Shares in Daimler shot 3.2 percent higher after analysts Goldman Sachs switched their advice to buy, saying the stock in the Mercedes-maker were 25 percent undervalued.

Moreover, it said changes in legal structure announced by the luxury carmaker last month could lead to a listing of the truck and bus division, which it estimated to be worth 31 billion euros, thus opening up the possibility Daimler could unlock considerable value to shareholders.

Shares in BMW and Volkswagen both added 1.6 percent.

Paris closed 0.3 percent higher, but London slid 0.3 percent.

Wall Street was also mixed approaching midday, with the Dow adding 0.3 percent.

"US stocks are regaining some of yesterday's drop in early action, though global sentiment remains jittery in the face of exacerbated North Korea tensions, along with monetary and political uncertainties," said analysts at Charles Schwab brokerage.

The dollar, already down against the safe-bet yen on geopolitical concerns, took another hit from comments by Federal Reserve officials playing down the chances of a third rate hike of the year and worries about a looming hurricane in the Atlantic.

Fed governor Lael Brainard said the central bank had continued to miss its two percent inflation target for the past year and added: "My view is that we should be cautious about tightening policy further until we are confident inflation is on track to achieve our target."

Oil prices extended gains after surging Tuesday when WTI jumped around three percent and Brent put on two percent on reports that Russia and Saudi Arabia were considering extending a production cut.

Also refineries that were forced to shut owing to Hurricane Harvey began to come back online in the US Gulf Coast, helping clear a backlog of the commodity.

Eyes are now on the release of US crude inventory data from industry group the American Petroleum Institute due Wednesday, which precedes US government figures a day later.

- Key figures around 1530 GMT -

London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.3 percent at 7,354.13 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.8 percent at 12,214.54 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 5,101.41 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.4 percent at 3,435.36

New York - DOW: UP 0.3 percent at 21,811.89

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 19,357.97 (close)

Seoul - Kospi: DOWN 0.3 percent at 2,319.82 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: DOWN 0.5 percent at 27,613.76 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: FLAT at 3,385.39 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1944 from $1.1914 at 2040 GMT on Tuesday

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3079 from $1.3031

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 108.74 yen from 108.79 yen

Oil - Brent North Sea: UP 79 cents at $54.17 per barrel

Oil - West Texas Intermediate: UP 48 cents at $49.14

Source: AFP