New Delhi, 12 February (H.S.):

Global markets presented a bifurcated landscape today, Thursday, with Wall Street indices concluding the prior session in decline amid profit-taking pressures, while Dow Jones futures signalled nascent recovery; European bourses exhibited equivocal performances, and Asian counterparts mirrored the ambivalence.

Wall Street's Wobbly Close and Futures Rebound

US equities oscillated before succumbing to selling, with the S&P 500 eking out a marginal 0.34-point retreat to close at 6,941.47, the Nasdaq Composite shedding 0.11 percent to 23,076.58, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average similarly pressured.

Dow Jones futures, however, traded robustly up 158.20 points or 0.32 percent at 50,279.60, buoyed by post-jobs data reassessments tempering Federal Reserve rate-cut expectations.

Europe's Patchwork Session

European markets delivered heterogeneous verdicts: London's FTSE 100 ascended 118.27 points or 1.13 percent to 10,472.11, buoyed by resource and financial sectors, whereas Paris' CAC 40 dipped 0.18 percent to 8,313.24 and Frankfurt's DAX tumbled 131.70 points or 0.53 percent to 24,856.15 amid manufacturing jitters.

Asia's Mosaic Trading Amid Divergences

Asian exchanges evinced split dispositions, with five of nine major indices green, three crimson, and Taiwan Weighted dormant for holiday: Gift Nifty softened 71 points or 0.27 percent to 25,901.50; Hong Kong's Hang Seng plunged 252.38 points or 0.93 percent to 27,014; Jakarta Composite eroded 0.77 percent to 8,227.50.

Conversely, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 eked 0.12 percent higher to 57,718; Singapore's Straits Times vaulted 0.66 percent to 5,017.27; Seoul's Kospi rocketed 131.79 points or 2.46 percent to a record 5,486.28; Bangkok's SET Composite climbed 1.33 percent to 1,430.48; Shanghai Composite nudged 0.12 percent to 4,137.06.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar