Updates with opening of European markets
STOXX 600, Topix, and Dow Jones notch record highs
Yen slipping as PM pushes back on rate hikes
Brent crude at 3-week low on OPEC surplus forecast
By Marc Jones and Tom Westbrook
LONDON/SINGAPORE, Nov 13 (Reuters) - World stocks were eyeing a return to record highs on Thursday at the end of the longest government shutdown on record, while an increasingly squeezed Japanese yen hit a record low versus the euro and a nine-month trough against the dollar.
Europe's STOXX 600 .STOXX made a steady start with a near 1% jump from France's CAC 40 .FCHI nudging both indexes to all-time peaks and offsetting a more than 4% dive from German engineering giant Siemens SIEGn.DE after it reported underwhelming earnings. .EU
U.S. stock futures ESc1 meandered from slightly negative to 0.2% firmer, although MSCI's 47-country All World Index .MIWD00000PUS was firmly on course for its fourth consecutive daily gain as it edged to within 4 points of October's all-time high.
U.S. President Donald Trump signed the bill to end the government's shutdown in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
Delayed economic data is expected to start trickling out next week. October's payrolls figures could be the first to land with the focus on whether they will back up private surveys that have shown softness in the job market.
"We are waiting for the data fog to clear, but the one thing we can say from PriceStats data is that inflation is rolling over so it will be all about the jobs data, and that will be the driver of risk sentiment," State Street Global Markets' Michael Metcalfe, said.
SQUEEZED YEN
There had been action in Asia overnight too, including in the currency markets where Japan's yen came under renewed pressure after the new premier's latest push for the central bank to go slow on rate rises.
The yen hit a record low of 179.49 per euro EURJPY= and was near a nine-month trough on the dollar JPY= at 154.92.
That was despite the country's finance minister reminding traders just the previous day that the government was watching the currency closely.
Japan's Nikkei .N225 had closed up 0.4% and the broad Topix .TOPX set an all-time high as investors shifted portfolios from the frothiest artificial intelligence firms to buy exposure to other parts of the economy. .T
"There is still a debate about whether the BoJ will tighten rates by year-end. Our inclination is that they will, but there is a strong market narrative that is proving hard to break that policy settings will encourage a weaker yen," State Street's Metcalfe added.
Elsewhere, gold XAU= hung on to recent gains and traded above $4,200 while benchmark government bonds were largely quiet with the U.S. 10-year yield US10YT=RR at 4.09% and Germany’s 10-year yields DE10YT=RR at 2.65%.
OIL SPILLS
Hong Kong's Hang Seng .HSI retreated slightly from a one-month high and the Shanghai Composite .SSEC rose 1% ahead of credit and retail sales data due later this week.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Index .DJI notched a record high overnight while the tech-heavy Nasdaq .IXIC retreated. .N
In London, the mining-heavy FTSE 100 .FTSE drooped fractionally on Thursday after an all-time high the previous day. Europe's tech stocks .SX8P led sectoral gains, however, as ASML ASML.AS and Infineon IFXGn.DE showed signs of recovery from steep losses incurred last week. .L.EU
Elsewhere in foreign exchange trade Britain's pound GBP= briefly touched a session low after data showed its economy barely grew in Q3, while the Australian dollar AUD= ticked higher after a surge in employment figures bolstered a view that the rate-cutting cycle there may have run its course.
Brent crude futures LCOc1 inched down to a three-week low of $62.42 a barrel after OPEC shifted its projection to forecast a small surplus to demand in the world oil market for 2026. They had slumped 3.8% a day earlier. O/R
"Recent (price) weakness seems to be driven by OPEC’s revision of supply-demand balance in 2026 in its monthly report, which confirms the group is now acknowledging the possibility of a supply glut in 2026," said Suvro Sarkar, DBS Bank's energy sector team lead.
(Reporting by Marc Jones; editing by Sharon Singleton)
((marc.jones@thomsonreuters.com; +44 (0)20 7513 4042; Reuters Messaging: marc.jones.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net X/Twitter @marcjonesrtrs))
