LONDON: World stocks held near record highs on Monday as generally better data and earnings bolstered sentiment, while oil prices hit their highest in over a week after two large crude production bases in Libya began shutting down following a blockade.AdvertisementTrading was light with U.S. markets closed for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
"If you also toss into the mix some better than expected earnings reports from U.S. banks and other multinationals, it makes a heady cocktail of optimism on which to push stock markets higher."MSCI's s all-country index is up almost 2.5per cent for the first three weeks of the year and was holding near record highs on Monday along with Wall Street and European benchmark equity indices.
Chinese shares stayed strong with the blue-chip CSI300 index rising 0.7per cent, while China's yuan hit a new six-month high.