Sawt Falasteen - Stocks rise on China-US hopes, Japan's new PM lifts Tokyo

Tokyo hit another record as Japan swore in new prime minister Sanae Takaichi and brought an end to a period of political uncertainty.

On Wall Street the Dow and S&P 500 nudged higher, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq dipped as more companies reported their earnings.

"The overarching point this morning is that the earnings news for the September quarter continues to be better than expected, and, most importantly, the guidance has been generally reassuring," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"The fact that the market isn't as expressive about those points this morning as one might expect is due mostly to that reality having been priced in to a large degree already."

Shares in General Motors raced 8.6 percent higher at the opening bell after the automaker reported better-than-expected profits and boosted some full-year projections based on lower tariff costs.

Europe's main markets were higher in afternoon trading, tracking gains in Asia where Hong Kong and Shanghai closed up more than one percent.

"Wall Street enjoyed a particularly strong session on Monday, and that optimism has extended to Asia and Europe," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.

"The focus is now on US interest rate cuts, the new corporate reporting season, and US-China trade talks."

Investors will look to US inflation figures due Friday for further signals about the pace of the rate cuts.

Investors were back in a buying mood after last week's ructions sparked by Donald Trump's threat to hammer China with 100-percent tariffs over its latest rare earth export controls.

The US president has since struck a more conciliatory tone ahead of a meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the APEC summit in South Korea.

He said he wanted a "fair" trade deal between the superpowers and praised his relationship with Xi.

Trump also played down fears of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, saying: "I think we'll be just fine with China. China doesn't want to do that."

The remarks followed other positive comments at the weekend and helped push Wall Street higher on Monday, as the tech-led rally resumed.

In Japan, the yen weakened after Takaichi was appointed prime minister, which raised expectations for a slower pace of interest rate rises.

"Takaichi is expected to cut taxes and boost defence spending, she is also not a fan of interest rate hikes," said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB trading group.

The pound fell against the dollar on official data showing UK public borrowing reached a five-year high in September.

- Key figures at around 1330 GMT -

New York - Dow: UP 0.1 percent at 46,764.35 points

New York - S&P 500: UP less than 0.1 percent at 6,736.94

New York - Nasdaq Composite: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 22,974.68

London - FTSE 100: UP 0.3 percent at 9,430.33

Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.5 percent at 8,243.19

Frankfurt - DAX: UP less than 0.1 percent at 24,278.77

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.3 percent at 49,316.06 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 0.7 percent at 26,027.55 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.4 percent at 3,916.33 (close)

Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1610 from $1.1641 on Monday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3382 from $1.3409

Dollar/yen: UP at 151.82 yen from 150.73 yen

Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.77 percent from 86.82 pence

Brent North Sea Crude: UP 0.1 percent at $61.09 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP less than 0.1 percent at $57.07 per barrel

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O.Farraj--SF-PST