World Shares Mixed on Monday           05/20 06:05

   Shares declined in Europe on Monday after a mixed day in Asia in the absence 
of positive updates on the trade standoff between the U.S. and China.

   BANGKOK (AP) -- Shares declined in Europe on Monday after a mixed day in 
Asia in the absence of positive updates on the trade standoff between the U.S. 
and China.

   Britain's FTSE 100 lost 0.7% at 7,297.67 while Germany's DAX declined 1.2% 
to 12,091.38. The CAC 40 in France shed 1.2% to 5,374.14.

   Wall Street looked set for losses, with the future contract for the Dow 
Jones Industrial Average down 0.4% to 25,682.00. S&P 500 futures lost 0.5% to 
2,843.20.

   Election results in Australia and India helped lead gains for Asia. 

   Sydney's S&P ASX 200 added 1.7% to 6,476.10 following a shock victory for 
Prime Minister Scott Morrison. His conservative, pro-business government looked 
set to form a majority government, leaving bewildered voters wondering how they 
were taken by surprise since the opposition Labor Party had been expected to 
win.

   Voting in India's election, which lasted more than five weeks, ended with 
exit polls predicting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party 
and its allies will win another five years in office.

   The election was seen as a referendum on Modi and his Bharatiya Janata 
Party, whose main opposition is the Congress party, led by Rahul Gandhi, the 
scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has produced three prime ministers.

   The outcome appeared to please investors, as the benchmark Sensex added 3.8% 
to 39,352.67.

   Japan's Nikkei 225 index edged up 0.2% to 21,301.73 after the government 
reported Monday that the world's third-largest economy grew at a 
better-than-expected 2.1% annual pace in January-March.

   Economists had been forecasting a contraction, but strong residential demand 
and government spending helped keep the economy expanding for a second straight 
quarter.

   Still, with a sales tax hike planned for later in the year, the outlook 
remains cloudy.

   "We continue to expect the Japanese economy to expand only modestly in 2019, 
with growth constrained by weak exports and a deceleration in capital 
spending," Stefan Angrick of Oxford Economics said in a research note. "The 
recent escalation in trade tensions will further weigh on momentum in 
2019-2020."

   Markets in Shanghai and Hong Kong fell back given the lack of any news of 
progress on resolving the tariffs war between Washington and Beijing.

   The Shanghai Composite index lost 0.4% to 2,870.60 while Hong Kong's Hang 
Seng index slipped 0.6% to 27,787.61.

   Google assured users of Huawei smartphones on Monday the American company's 
basic services will work on them following U.S. government curbs, which took 
effect on Thursday, on doing business with the Chinese tech giant.

   The announcement highlighted the potential impact on global consumers and 
technology industries of the Trump administration's decision to tighten 
controls on Huawei Technologies Ltd., which Washington says is a security 
threat.

   Elsewhere in Asia, South Korea's Kospi was flat at 2,055.71. Shares rose in 
Taiwan and Indonesia, while markets were closed for public holidays in 
Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore .

   ENERGY: Benchmark U.S. crude picked up 12 cents to $62.88 per barrel in 
electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It lost 11 cents to 
$62.76 per barrel on Friday. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 
29 cents to $72.50 per barrel.

   CURRENCIES: The dollar weakened to 109.96 Japanese yen from 110.08 yen on 
Friday. The euro slipped to $1.1156 from $1.1161. 


(BAS)