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Stock markets steadied and the dollar mostly rose Friday at the end of a week marked by central bank decisions, as attention turned to a call between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.Wall Street’s three main indices were flat or slightly higher in late morning trading, coming off record closes Thursday thanks to another surge in the share prices of technology giants.Europe’s main indices ended the day little changed or slightly lower.”The key event today is the scheduled phone call between US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping,” Sam Cornford, head of trading at broker Ballinger Group, said ahead of the discussion between the leaders of the world’s two leading economies.Shortly before European markets closed, Trump said he made progress in his call on on a deal for the social networking platform TikTok, though he stopped short of announcing a deal.”We made progress on many very important issues including Trade, Fentanyl, the need to bring the War between Russia and Ukraine to an end, and the approval of the TikTok Deal,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.He has repeatedly put off a ban under a law designed to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations for national security reasons.The call came after high-level discussions between Washington and Beijing officials in Madrid, where they addressed trade ahead of a November tariff deadline.Trump said Friday that he would meet Xi at an Asia-Pacific summit in South Korea in just over a month, and visit China himself next year.Trump imposed massive tariffs on China earlier this year, causing severe disruption to the supply chains of many US firms.While the tariffs were lowered temporarily, their lapse could trigger fresh volatility as the US economy shows signs of weakness.Meanwhile, the British pound retreated after official data showed that UK government borrowing had reached its highest level since the Covid pandemic. In Asia, Tokyo led losses among major indices on expectations that Japan’s central bank would hike interest rates this year after leaving borrowing costs unchanged Friday.Before the announcement, official data showed that inflation in Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy, slowed in August, with rice price increases easing following a spike that had rattled the country’s government.The week also saw a widely expected interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve as well as reductions by the central banks of Norway and Canada.The Bank of England left its benchmark rates unchanged. – Key figures at around 1530 GMT -New York – Dow: FLAT at 46,127.99 pointsNew York – S&P 500: FLAT at 6,632.74 New York – Nasdaq Composite: UP 0.2 percent at 22,507.25London – FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 9,216.67 (close)Paris – CAC 40: FLAT at 7,853.59 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 23,639.41 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 45,045.81 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,545.10 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,820.09 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1743 from $1.1785 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3476 from $1.3550Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.90 yen from 147.97 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.14 pence from 86.96 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 percent at $66.92 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $63.09 per barrelburs-rl/js

Tariff fears are hurting World Cup merchandise orders at Shang Yabing’s Chinese knitwear factory, where racks of scarves bear the logos of national teams from Ireland to Tanzania.Manufacturers in China’s export hub Yiwu would normally already be inundated with World Cup orders ahead of next summer’s football tournament, this time hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.But a rollercoaster ride of a trade war between Washington and Beijing is making international buyers think twice before placing orders with companies like Shang’s Yiwu Wells Knitting Product.When AFP visited his bustling workrooms, Shang was overseeing rows of colleagues adding the finishing touches to a plethora of sports-themed accessories.”We’ve been in this industry for over 10 years, and we’ve produced World Cup-related merchandise for nearly every tournament in that time,” Shang said.”This year, we’ve secured some smaller orders, but the larger ones that were on hold before haven’t materialised yet… this is likely because of the US tariffs,” he added.At the factory on Thursday, crates overflowing with colourful wares surrounded employees’ workstations.Some workers used sewing machines to attach fringe trims to the ends of scarves, while another ironed green and yellow lengths of fabric emblazoned with the word “Australian”.China and the United States have extended a temporary truce, staving off triple-digit tariffs on each other’s goods until November, but the two sides continue to spar over semiconductors and TikTok.With a little under nine months to go before the World Cup, Shang said the company was still waiting for clients to approve substantial orders amounting to around a million pieces.- ‘Lack of clarity’ -Along the fluorescent-lit hallways of Yiwu’s sprawling International Trade City, one of the world’s largest wholesale markets, stores offering soccer balls and flags were relatively quiet compared to the rush of foreign buyers the sales hub sees during peak periods.Vendors displayed everything from flag-printed sunglasses to miniature football cleats hanging on keychains.”By this point before the last World Cup, we saw a huge influx of orders,” Daisy Dai, a seller of printed soccer balls, told AFP. This year, she said, “customers are holding back”.American buyers previously made up a large part of Dai’s clientele but “since the start of the trade war a number of large brands stopped ordering, because of a lack of clarity on tariffs”.Zhou Yanjuan, a seller of flags and World Cup-themed souvenirs, told AFP that shipments abroad had slowed for her.”We’re not selling necessities after all,” Zhou said.Still, she was optimistic that “things will gradually improve going forward”.”Everyone’s probably waiting for (tariffs) to be adjusted downward,” Zhou said. “That could make things a little easier for us.”

Stock markets diverged and the dollar rose Friday at the end of a week marked by central bank decisions, as attention turned to a call between US President Donald Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.Nearing the half-way stage in Europe, London and Paris edged higher while Frankfurt dipped. The British pound retreated after official data showed UK government borrowing had reached its highest level since the Covid pandemic. Tokyo led losses among major Asian indices on expectations that Japan’s central bank would hike interest rates later this year after leaving borrowing costs unchanged Friday.Before the announcement, official data showed inflation in Japan — the world’s fourth-largest economy — slowed in August, with rice price rises easing following a sharp spike that had rattled the country’s government.The week saw a widely expected interest rate cut from the US Federal Reserve, as well as reductions by the central bank’s of Norway and Canada.The Bank of England left rates unchanged. “The key event today is the scheduled phone call between US President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping,” said Sam Cornford, head of trading at broker Ballinger Group. Trump told reporters he would speak to Xi about a deal to change ownership of the hugely popular video-sharing app TikTok.The US president has repeatedly put off a ban under a law designed to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance to sell its US operations for national security reasons.”Trade issues are also likely to come up, and there’s some speculation this could pave the way for an in-person meeting,” Cornford added.The call comes after high-level discussions between Washington and Beijing officials in Madrid, where they addressed trade ahead of a November tariff deadline.All three main Wall Street indices ended Thursday at record highs, thanks to another surge in the share prices of technology giants.That came after news that chip titan Nvidia will invest $5 billion in struggling US rival Intel and jointly develop processors for PCs and data centres.- Key figures at around 1100 GMT -London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,234.49 pointsParis – CAC 40: UP 0.3 percent at 7,874.83Frankfurt – DAX: DOWN 0.2 percent at 23,635.08Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 45,045.81 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,545.10 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,820.09 (close)New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 46,142.42 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1759 from $1.1785 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3495 from $1.3550Dollar/yen: UP at 147.99 yen from 147.97 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.15 pence from 86.96 penceBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $67.23 per barrelWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.6 percent at $62.91 per barrel

Asian markets were mixed Friday at the end of a strong week for investors following a US interest rate cut, with attention now turning to a call between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping due later in the day.Adding to selling pressure were expectations that Japan’s central bank would hike interest rates later this year, despite holding them at its latest meeting.While the Federal Reserve and boss Jerome Powell were not as forthright as hoped on future rate reductions, the mood on trading floors remained upbeat.The US central bank lowered borrowing costs Wednesday for the first time since December after a series of reports pointed to a slowdown in the country’s labour market, which offset stubbornly high inflation.A closely watched gauge of future moves indicated two more this year, but Powell warned decisions would be data-dependent. With that in mind, even figures showing a sharp drop in initial jobless claims for last week did little to dampen expectations that rates will continue to be cut.”The underlying trend remains one of only a gentle drift higher in claims, reinforcing the view that the US labour market is not showing signs of sudden weakness,” said National Australia Bank’s Rodrigo Catril.All three main indexes ended Thursday at records, continuing a trend that has characterised markets in recent months, thanks to another surge in tech giants.That came after news that chip titan Nvidia will invest $5 billion in struggling US rival Intel and jointly develop processors for PCs and data centres.Asian traders moved cautiously in the morning, but selling picked up after the Bank of Japan’s latest meeting.Monetary policymakers kept rates on hold but only after a surprise 7-2 vote that indicated two members wanted a hike. That boosted bets on such a move before the end of the year.The move came amid lingering political uncertainty and economic concerns fuelled by US tariffs.The bank also said it would start offloading exchange-traded funds bought as part of its earlier monetary easing campaign that had helped boost equities.Catril said the dissenters were “a strong signal that the BOJ will be hiking once political uncertainty is removed”.Before the announcement, official data showed inflation in the fourth-largest economy slowing to 2.7 percent in August, with rice price rises easing following a sharp spike that rattled the government.Traders are now awaiting a news conference from bank boss Kazuo Ueda due later in the day.Tokyo ended in the red, having enjoyed a strong start to the day. There were also losses in Shanghai, Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Mumbai and Jakarta, while Hong Kong was flat.Sydney, Wellington, Bangkok and Manila rose with London, Paris and Frankfurt.Talks between president Trump and Chinese counterpart Xi — their first since June — are due to take place later Friday, with the US president telling reporters they would discuss a deal to change ownership of the hugely popular video-sharing app TikTok.The phone call also comes after high level officials from both sides met in Madrid where they spoke about trade between the economic superpowers, with the deadline for a US tariff pause approaching in November.- Key figures at around 0810 GMT -Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.6 percent at 45,045.81 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: FLAT at 26,545.10 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 0.3 percent at 3,820.09 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.1 percent at 9,233.69 Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1761 from $1.1785 on ThursdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3485 from $1.3550Dollar/yen: UP at 147.91 yen from 147.97 yenEuro/pound: UP at 87.22 pence from 86.96 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.4 percent at $63.29 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $67.27 per barrelNew York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 46,142.42 (close)

The Bank of Japan kept interest rates on hold Friday amid lingering political uncertainty and economic concerns but said it would start offloading funds bought as part of its earlier monetary easing campaign.The announcement came hours after official data showed inflation in the fourth-largest economy slowed to 2.7 percent in August, with rice price rises slowing following a sharp spike that rattled the government.In a widely expected decision the central bank decided against hiking borrowing costs, keeping them at 0.5 percent, but said it would begin reducing its exchange-traded fund and real estate investment trust holdings.The BoJ began buying the funds — in a bid to boost liquidity and reduce the cost of capital for firms, among other things — more than a decade ago as part of its campaign to kickstart the torpid economy and end years of almost non-existent inflation.Officials began hiking rates from below zero in March last year as figures signalled an end to the country’s “lost decades” of stagnation, with inflation surging.However, with worries about the global outlook and US tariffs growing, the bank paused its tightening measures at the start of 2025, with the last increase in January, taking rates to their highest level in 17 years.The yen rose against the dollar but Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index fell around 0.5 percent.In a statement following Friday’s announcement, the BoJ said: “Japan’s economic growth is likely to moderate, as trade and other policies in each jurisdiction lead to a slowdown in overseas economies and to a decline in domestic corporate profits and other factors.”Japanese exports to the United States face a 15 percent levy imposed by President Donald Trump’s administration, causing huge pain for the nation’s industries, particularly the auto sector.But BoJ governor Kazuo Ueda told a news conference that “although US tariffs are having a negative impact, particularly on the revenues of the manufacturing industry, so far they don’t appear to be affecting the economy as a whole including capital investment, employment and wages”.- Leadership race -The rate decision was carried by seven votes to two, with the dissent described as “a bit of surprise” by Tsuyoshi Ueno of NLI Research Institute.”Governor Ueda has said he wants to see the impact of Trump tariffs, but maybe there is a division in their opinions, as inflation continues,” he told AFP.The move comes as the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) prepares for an election for a new leader following the resignation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.The government has come under pressure from voters angry about the rising cost of rice and Ishiba’s coalition lost its majority in both chambers. A race for his successor will be decided on October 4. Figures Friday showed core inflation — stripping out food costs –hit 2.7 percent in August.While that was down on July’s 3.1 percent, it is still well above the BoJ’s target of two percent, and analysts have said the bank will likely announce another hike this year or in early 2026.Rice prices had skyrocketed because of supply problems linked to a very hot summer in 2023 and panic-buying after a “megaquake” warning last year, amongst other factors.Abhijit Surya of Capital Economics said the main factor behind the fall in inflation was “a deepening of energy price deflation… due to the resumption of electricity and gas subsidies”.But Taro Kimura, an analyst with Bloomberg Economics, said a pullback in inflation “won’t change the big picture”.”Consumer prices will remain warm enough to keep the Bank of Japan on track to pare stimulus, likely as soon as October,” he added.

Chinese consumer tech giant Xiaomi will remotely fix a flaw in the assisted driving system on over 110,000 of its popular SU7 electric cars, the firm and regulators said Friday, months after a deadly crash involving the model.China’s tech companies and automakers have poured billions of dollars into smart-driving technology, a new battleground in the country’s cutthroat domestic car market.But Beijing has moved to tighten safety rules after a Xiaomi SU7 in assisted driving mode crashed and killed three college students this year.The event raised concerns over the advertising of cars as being capable of autonomous driving.On Friday, the State Administration for Market Regulation said Xiaomi’s highway assisted driving system showed insufficient recognition, warning and handling ability in some extreme driving conditions.That risked collision if drivers failed to promptly intervene, the regulator said. Xiaomi will remotely upgrade standard SU7 models manufactured before August 30, 2025, the company said in a Q&A on the X-like social media platform Weibo.”Xiaomi forever places user safety as its top priority,” it said, adding that while no physical parts needed replacing it would manage the fix according to recall procedures. The recall affects 116,887 cars, the regulator said.- Fatal crash -Remote recalls have become standard practice among automakers. But the announcement reignited online discussion of the fatal SU7 crash.Three students died in March after their Xiaomi SU7 hit a concrete barrier on an expressway in eastern Anhui province.Before the crash, the vehicle was in Xiaomi’s Navigate On Autopilot assisted driving mode, traveling at 116 kilometres per hour (72 miles per hour), according to a company statement at the time.While travelling on a highway section with roadworks, the vehicle detected an obstacle ahead, issued a warning and handed control to the driver, Xiaomi said.But seconds later, the vehicle hit a barrier at around 97km/h.Footage posted online showed a car in flames on the highway and later the burned-out wreckage.Xiaomi founder Lei Jun said on social media he was “heavy-hearted” and that his company would cooperate with a police investigation.The crash sparked discussion online about Xiaomi’s assisted driving functions, why the car caught fire and whether the doors could be opened in an emergency.On Friday, a hashtag related to the recall was viewed more than 70 million times on Weibo.Launched in March 2024, the SU7 marked an ambitious foray by the consumer electronics and smartphone giant into China’s competitive EV market.By this July, Xiaomi had delivered more than 300,000 SU7s, Bloomberg reported, citing the state-owned China Automotive Technology and Research Center.

Tapanuli orangutans are the world’s most endangered great ape. Fewer than 800 remain, all previously thought to be in their native Indonesia. But now an Indian zoo says it has one.An Indian court cleared the 3,500-acre wildlife facility known as Vantara on Monday of allegations including unlawful acquisition of animals and financial wrongdoing.But the decision is unlikely to quiet questions about how Vantara, which describes itself as a wildlife rehabilitation and conservation centre, has stocked its enclosures. Vantara, run by Anant Ambani, the son of Asia’s richest man, says it houses 150,000 animals of 2,000 species, far exceeding populations at well-known zoos in New York, London or Berlin. AFP spoke to seven experts on conservation and the wildlife trade to understand concerns about Vantara.Several declined to speak on the record, citing Vantara’s previous legal actions against critics. They called Vantara’s collection unprecedented.”We’ve never seen anything on this scale,” said one longtime conservation expert from a wildlife protection group.”It’s hoovering up animals from all over the world.”Some of those acquisitions are more noteworthy than others, such as the single tapanuli that arrived in Vantara between 2023 and 2024, according to the facility’s submissions to India’s Central Zoo Authority.Only officially described in 2017, tapanulis are incredibly rare, said Serge Wich, an orangutan specialist at Liverpool John Moores University.They are confined to a small range in Indonesia and are in “dire straits” because of threats including mining and deforestation, he told AFP.- ‘Surprised and shocked’ -Trade in the world’s most endangered species is prohibited by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).But there are exceptions, including for “captive-bred” animals — individuals born in captivity to captive parents. There is only one CITES record of a tapanuli orangutan ever being transferred internationally.It left Indonesia in 2023, bound for the United Arab Emirates, where Vantara says its tapanuli came from.The transfer record describes the animal as “captive-bred”.However, multiple experts said that description was implausible.”There are no captive breeding programmes for orangutans in Indonesia,” said Panut Hadisiswoyo, founder and chairman of the Orangutan Information Centre in Indonesia.Only a handful are known to be in captivity at all, at rehabilitation facilities in Indonesia, he said.A conservationist for more than two decades, Panut said he was “surprised and shocked” to learn from AFP about Vantara’s tapanuli orangutan.”We do everything to protect them,” he said. “So it’s really, really distressing information.”There is no information on where in Indonesia the animal originated. The country’s CITES authorities did not respond to a request for comment.Experts said it was possible the orangutan is not a tapanuli at all. They look similar enough to Bornean and Sumatran orangutans that DNA testing would be needed for confirmation. It could also be a mix of tapanuli and another species, perhaps discovered by a zoo in its collection — although experts questioned why a facility would hand off such a rare animal.But if the animal is a tapanuli, “it’s almost inevitable that it would have to be illegal”, said orangutan conservation expert Erik Meijaard.”It would be super sad.”- ‘Pure nonsense’ -Vantara did not respond to AFP’s request for comment on the orangutan and how it acquires animals.The tapanuli is not the first highly endangered animal to arrive at Vantara.Spix’s macaws, a vibrant blue species native to Brazil, were extinct in the wild until recently.Brazil has sought to prevent all trade and transfer of the birds.It allowed a breeding facility in Germany to acquire some on condition they would not be sold or moved without Brazilian permission, according to documents submitted to CITES. Yet in 2023, 26 Spix’s macaws from the German facility arrived in Vantara. Vantara says it is working “to ensure that the calls of these rare birds are never lost from their native habitats”.The case has rankled Brazil, which raised it repeatedly at CITES meetings.Asked about Vantara’s tapanuli, the CITES secretariat told AFP “this matter is under review”, adding it was “not in a position to provide information”.In public documents, CITES has acknowledged receiving “multiple reports” about imports of endangered animals into India. India has said it will invite CITES officials for a visit but has yet to provide “detailed information on the matter”, the secretariat noted.If Vantara does own a single tapanuli orangutan, its conservation value would be limited, said Panut, who urged the animal’s return to Indonesia.For Meijaard, conservation in their natural habitat in Indonesia provides “the only chance for this species’ survival”.”Trying to breed orangutans outside Indonesia with some kind of long-term hope that they are going to contribute to the population is just pure nonsense.”

Inflation in Japan slowed to 2.7 percent in August due partly to government energy subsidies, official data showed Friday, with the cost of rice easing following a huge price spike.Inflation continues to be driven by rice prices, which increased by 68.8 percent year-on-year in August after surges of around 100 percent in June and 90.7 percent in July.Voters angry about rising rice costs have deserted the long-dominant ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and this month an under-pressure Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced he would step down after his coalition lost its majority in both chambers.Rice prices have skyrocketed because of supply problems linked to a very hot summer in 2023 and panic-buying after a “megaquake” warning last year, amongst other factors.The core inflation reading from the internal affairs ministry, which excludes volatile fresh food prices, was in line with market expectations, and was down on the 3.1 percent in July.Abhijit Surya of Capital Economics said the main factor behind the fall in inflation was “a deepening of energy price deflation… due to the resumption of electricity and gas subsidies”.But Taro Kimura, an analyst with Bloomberg Economics, said that a pullback in inflation “won’t change the big picture”.”Consumer prices will remain warm enough to keep the Bank of Japan on track to pare stimulus, likely as soon as October,” he added.Ishiba appointed a new farm minister and his government has released emergency stocks in an effort to bring prices down.Last month Japan announced a change in its decades-old policy of encouraging farmers to grow crops other than rice.US President Donald Trump also wants Japan to import more American rice.- Export woes -Last month, data showed that Japan’s economy grew at an annualised pace of 1.0 percent in the second quarter.The reading suggested the economy was suffering less than feared from US tariffs.But other data released this week showed exports to the United States plunged nearly 14 percent in August, with cars down 28.4 percent. The auto industry, which accounts for about a third of Japan’s exports to the United States, has been suffering under a 27.5 percent levy. However, on Tuesday, lower US tariffs on Japanese autos kicked in as Washington implemented a recent trade pact between the two countries. Vehicles will now face a 15 percent toll, the same as many other goods.While the implementation of the trade deal marked a win for Japan, the levies will continue to cause huge pain for the nation’s industries and Japanese business lobbies are hoping Tokyo will push on with fresh negotiations.Japan’s automobile industry, which includes major firms such as Toyota and Honda, accounts for around eight percent of the country’s jobs.

Stock markets advanced Thursday, as tech shares jumped following AI-chips giant Nvidia’s announcement of a $5 billion investment in struggling US rival Intel, and as investors digested the Federal Reserve’s first interest rate cut of 2025.The tech-heavy Nasdaq led gains on Wall Street, with Intel shares soaring nearly 23 percent and Nvidia gaining more than three percent.All three major US indices finished at fresh records.The dollar gained against other major currencies.”Even if Intel needs handouts from its peers in Silicon Valley, investors like it,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at trading platform XTB.Under the Nvidia-Intel deal, the companies will jointly develop chips for PCs and data centers.The deal comes on the heels of the United States taking a 10-percent stake in Intel, which has fallen behind in recent years after missing key technology shifts.The move propelled shares of other tech firms. In Europe, shares in ASML, a Dutch company that makes the machines used to produce semiconductors, surged more than seven percent.Other US semiconductor names were mixed. Micron jumped 5.6 percent while Advanced Micro Devices dropped 0.8 percent.Investors were also reacting to Wednesday’s US central bank decision to lower rates by 25 basis points.US stocks had finished mixed Wednesday over uncertainty about the path forward following the Fed’s announcement.But the mood changed Thursday, with investors confident that more cuts are coming this year, analysts said.”Markets are betting policymakers will continue to prioritize jobs over inflation, even with headline prices still running hot,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and FOREX.com.The decision to cut came even as US inflation runs well above policymakers’ two-percent target, but analysts said the main focus was on the jobs market.Fed policymakers are split between those who expect at least two interest rate cuts later this year and those who anticipate one or fewer.Fed boss Jerome Powell remained cagey, telling reporters decision-makers were approaching it “meeting by meeting.”Paris and Frankfurt stocks were up around one percent in afternoon deals, with German sentiment buoyed by a central bank statement saying Germany should dodge a technical recession in the immediate future.London rose less enthusiastically as the Bank of England kept its main interest rate at four percent in the face of the UK’s stubbornly high inflation, which stands at 3.8 percent.While Britain’s interest rate was kept unchanged, Norway’s central bank cut borrowing costs on Thursday, after a similar move by Canada on Wednesday.In Asia, investors were in a cautious mood on Thursday.Shanghai stocks retreated overall, and Hong Kong’s session also ended in the red.Tokyo closed in the green as the Fed decision boosted the dollar against the yen, helping Japanese exporters.- Key figures at around 2050 GMT -New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 46,142.42 (close)New York – S&P 500: UP 0.5 percent at 6,631.96 (close)New York – Nasdaq: UP 1.2 percent at 22,470.73 (close)London – FTSE 100: UP 0.2 percent at 9,228.11 (close) Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.9 percent at 7,854.61 (close)Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.4 percent at 23,674.53 (close)Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 1.2 percent at 45,303.43 (close)Shanghai – Composite: DOWN 1.2 percent at 3,831.66 (close)Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.4 percent at 26,544.85 (close)Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1785 from $1.1813 on WednesdayPound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3550 from $1.3626Dollar/yen: UP at 147.97 yen from 146.99 yenEuro/pound: UP at 86.96  pence from 86.69 penceWest Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.8 percent at $63.57 per barrelBrent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.8 at $67.44 per barrel