China plan for easier market access lifts global stocks to 1-month high

Wall Street ended higher, with the S&P 500 rising 0.3% to 2,038.26, a closing record, while the Dow industrials gained 0.2% to a new closing high of 17,613.74

World equity markets hit their highest level in more than a month on Monday, lifted by a deal to give global investors easier access to China's $3.9-trillion stock market and more gains in US equities.

Wall Street ended higher, with the S&P 500 rising 0.3 per cent to 2,038.26, a closing record, while the Dow industrials gained 0.2 per cent to a new closing high of 17,613.74.

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, Wall Street's favored index of anxiety, hit its lowest level since mid-September.

MSCI's All-World index, which spans 45 countries, rose 0.4 per cent to hit its highest level since late September. European shares were up 0.7 per cent. "Interest rates are still low, oil prices are low and everything looks conducive to more strength between now and the end of the year," said John Kosar, director of research with Asbury Research in Chicago.

Chinese shares jumped 2.5 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index climbed almost one per cent overnight after officials announced a November 17 start date for a long-awaited tie-up that will allow global investors to buy Chinese stocks from Hong Kong. Shares in those markets were the strongest among major world markets. In Russia, tough talk from President Vladimir Putin and a move by the central bank to abandon rules-based currency intervention sent the ruble soaring after a recent run of weakness.

The dollar index added to recent gains, reversing early losses, and was up 0.2 per cent as investors continue to favor the U.S. currency over the lower-yielding units of Japan and the euro zone. The dollar index, which measures the dollar against a basket of six major currencies, rose to 87.82 and is up 12 per cent since May. There was no sign that recent volatility in Russia's ruble was about to let up. After dabbling with the idea last week, Russia's central bank formally abolished structured currency market interventions.

After a dramatic fall in the previous week and volatile swings of six per cent on Friday, the ruble was last up almost 1.7 per cent at 45.89 to the dollar.

US Treasuries sold off modestly, with the 10-year yield rising to 2.36 per cent on a 17/32 point decline in the price of the benchmark. Oil prices initially rose on renewed political tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine. But they subsequently gave up their gains, with Brent crude off 1.5 per cent at $82.70, and US light crude off 1.7 per cent at $77.63.