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GLOBAL MARKETS-World shares fall as Hong Kong violence unnerves investors

Published 11/11/2019, 10:37
Updated 11/11/2019, 10:45
© Reuters.  GLOBAL MARKETS-World shares fall as Hong Kong violence unnerves investors
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* MSCI world index falls 0.2%

* Hong Kong violence escalates in rare daytime clashes

* Hang Seng index loses 3%

* European shares down 0.2%

* Gold, Japanese yen gain

* Trade war worries also weigh

* Graphic: World FX rates in 2019 http://tmsnrt.rs/2egbfVh

By Tom Wilson

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Shares across the globe fell on

Monday, buffeted by escalating violence in Hong Kong that pushed

Asian stocks to their worst day since August and stoked demand

for the safe-haven yen and gold.

In the 24th straight week of pro-democracy unrest, Hong Kong

police shot and wounded a protester as the Chinese-ruled

territory saw rare working-hours violence. The MSCI world equity index .MIWD00000PUS , which tracks

shares in 47 countries, slipped 0.2%, with Hong Kong's Hang Seng

index .HSI falling 2.7% and leading losses across Asia.

There, MSCI's widest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside

Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1.2% from six-month highs to set a

course for its worst day since late August. Chinese blue chips

.CSI300 dropped 1.8%.

The nerves spread to Europe, too.

The broad Euro STOXX 600 .STOXX fell 0.2%, with London

shares .FTSE slipping 0.6% ahead of British GDP data . Wall

Street futures gauges were also set to suffer, suggesting losses

of around 0.4% ESc1 .

Some investors said markets risked being hit by any further

escalation of the violence in Hong Kong, where protesters are

angry about what they see as police brutality and meddling by

Beijing in the freedoms guaranteed to the former British colony.

"At some stage I think it will be likely that there will be

a more fully-fledged crackdown," said Stéphane Barbier de la

Serre, a strategist at Makor Capital Markets.

"And if you see a crackdown, you could see markets

collapsing. For these reasons markets are complacent."

The violence in Hong Kong sent investors running for assets

perceived as safe havens and away from riskier currencies.

Gold XAU= rose 0.4%, rebounding from a three-month low

touched on Friday to reach $1,463.49 per ounce.

The Japanese yen JPY=EBS , which often strengthens in

times of global political or economic turmoil, strengthened 0.3%

against the dollar. China's yuan, in contrast, weakened 0.3% to

7 per dollar in offshore trade CNH=EBS .

TRADE WAR

Investors were also focused on the U.S-China trade talks.

After a bout of optimism last week over prospects for

Washington and Beijing to reach an initial deal that would quell

the worst of the 18-month old dispute, doubts over prospects for

a resolution gnawed again.

On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said talks with

China had moved more slowly than he would have liked. Trump said

reports that the United States was willing to lift tariffs were

incorrect, adding that Beijing wanted a deal more than he did.

Still, some market players said Trump's comments fitted an

established pattern of optimistic rhetoric from the U.S.

president being followed by a more sceptical tone.

A deal was still likely, they said.

"It's the usual two steps forward and one step backwards,"

said Adam Cole, head of FX strategy at RBC Capital Markets.

"We are probably still moving in the direction (of a deal),

and that's the way the market is priced on balance ... the

direction is still a positive one."

The uncertainty over trade weighed on commodities markets

commodities.

Oil lost nearly 1% on Monday, with concerns over trade

looming and worries on oversupply weighed on the market. Brent

crude was down 54 cents, or 0.9%, at $61.97 by 0745 GMT.

In Europe, Spanish government bond yields held their ground

after a weekend election delivered a deeply riven parliament and

set the stage for difficult talks to form a new ruling

coalition. The far-right surged in the poll, the fourth in as many

years. Spain's 10-year bond yield was flat at 0.40% ES10YT=RR .

Most other major bond yields across the euro zone were

little changed on Monday, holding below highs reached on Friday

as investors showed scant appetite for risk in the wake of the

Hong Kong violence.

U.S. bond markets were closed on Monday for the Veteran's

Day holiday.

For Reuters Live Markets blog on European and UK stock

markets, please click on: LIVE/

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