Global stocks slip, sterling rebounds on Scotland poll results

New York: Sterling rose from 10-month lows on Thursday after a poll reduced some fears of Scotland leaving the UK, which briefly provided support for global equity prices before their gains faded.

A poll conducted by Survation on behalf of the Daily Record newspaper showed 53% of Scots intend to vote against independence while 47% intends to vote for. That contrasted with polls earlier this week showing more Scottish voters were leaning towards a secession.

The Daily Record poll “proved the catalyst for a correction to recent sterling weakness,” said Kit Juckes, macro strategist at Societe Generale in London.

The dollar slipped against a basket of currencies but was still close to a 14-month high as traders anticipated signs from the Federal Reserve next week that it is moving closer to raising interest rates next year.

The greenback’s strength reduced the appeal of gold, sending bullion prices to a 7-1/2 month low.

Oil prices in London fell to a two-year low on rising supply and muted demand, which outweighed concerns over growing US involvement in Iraq and Syria.

US secretary of state John Kerry pressed Arab leaders on Thursday to support President Barack Obama’s plans for new strikes against Islamic State militants.

Worries about escalation in the Middle East renewed some safe-haven demand for US government bonds, pushing benchmark yields down from six-week highs. US bond yields had risen partly on a study from the San Francisco Fed released Monday that showed investors underestimated the pace at which the Fed might raise rates.

A surprise rise in US jobless claims also revived bids for treasuries and spurred profit-taking on Wall Street.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34 points, or 0.2%, to 17,034.71, the S&P 500 was down 2.53 points, or 0.13%, to 1,993.16 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 5.23 points, or 0.11%, to 4,581.30.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.2% at 1,383.23 points, erasing an earlier 0.2% gain. Tokyo’s Nikkei ended 0.8% higher.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, fell 0.62 points or 0.14%, to 427.54.

Benchmark 10-year treasuries yields slipped nearly 1 basis point to 2.527%, while the 10-year German Bund yield was little changed on the day at 1%.

In the currency market, the sterling clung to a 0.06% gain against the dollar at $1.6221 after falling to a 10-month low of $1.6052 on Wednesday.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback versus a basket of six currencies, fell 0.083 point or 0.1%, to 84.2 after reaching a 14-month high of 84.5 two days earlier. The dollar earlier Thursday reached a six-year high against the yen at ¥107.15.

The dollar’s strength bogged down spot gold prices to $1,234.71 an ounce, the lowest since late January.

Brent crude for October delivery was last down 76 cents or 0.78% at $97.28 a barrel. US crude was last up 26 cents or 0.28% at $91.93 per barrel. Reuters

Sudip Kar-Gupta, Atul Prakash, Jemima Kelly and Emelia Sithole-Matarise in London and Lisa Twaronite in Tokyo also contributed to this story.