Stocks in Asia were mostly higher on oil's bounce, but the commodity's reversal lower is weighing on European markets
Asian markets finished higher for the most part, helped by a
positive lead on Wall Street and an overnight bump in oil futures. Japan's Nikkei soared 2.7% to pace the region, while South Korea's Kospi and Hong Kong's Hang Seng added a respective 1.4% and 1%. The lone outlier was China's Shanghai Composite, pressured lower by a seventh straight monthly drop in industrial profits, concern over steep capital outflows, and a weaker yuan. The index finished on a loss of 0.5% -- after being down over 4% at its intraday low -- and is on pace for its worst single-month performance since October 2008.
Stocks in Europe are struggling after crude oil reversed lower, with traders digesting a downbeat round of earnings reports and bracing for the Fed's policy statement, due out this afternoon. Germany's DAX was last seen 0.5% lower, as chemical giant BASF gets drilled on a sharper-than-forecast drop in full-year earnings. Meanwhile, London's FTSE 100 has slipped 0.3%, and the French CAC 40 is down 0.4%.
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