Global stocks traded lower on Wednesday after fresh hostilities between India and Pakistan led Asian assets to slip and investors sought « safe havens » such as the yen and Swiss franc.
LONDON (Reuters) – Global stocks traded lower on Wednesday after fresh hostilities between India and Pakistan led Asian assets to slip and investors sought “safe havens” such as the yen and Swiss franc.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.5 percent with most regional indexes in the red [. EU], while U. S. stock futures for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq were both down 0.2 percent ahead of the U. S. market open.
India and Pakistan both said they shot down each other’s fighter jets on Wednesday, a day after Indian warplanes struck inside Pakistan for the first time since a 1971 war, prompting world powers to urge restraint.
India’s and Pakistan’s bonds and currencies fell and MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.13 percent as the threat of conflict between the nuclear-armed neighbors grew.
“This adds another layer of risks for investors”, said Charles St-Arnaud, a strategist at Lombard Odier.
