Markets were generally higher in Asia and in early trading in Europe, the Euro Stoxx 50 index, a barometer of euro zone blue chips, rose 0.2 percent. The CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.3 percent and the DAX in Frankfurt rose 0.7 percent. London markets were closed for a bank holiday.
Standard & Poor’s 500 index futures rose 0.4 percent, suggesting Wall Street would gain at the opening.
The dollar was mixed. The euro rose to $1.4815 from $1.4806 late Friday, while the British pound slipped to $1.6693 from $1.6706. The dollar rose to 81.47 yen from 81.20 yen
The Japanese and South Korean markets were already 1 percent higher before the U.S. President Barack Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden in Pakistan.
By the close the Nikkei 225 index had gained 1.6 percent and the Kospi by 1.7 percent. This took the Nikkei to 10,004,20 points, the first time it closed above the 10,000-point mark since the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the country on March 11.
Still, compared to the enormous political and psychological significance of bin Laden’s death, the stock market reaction was relatively muted.
“News of the death of Osama bin Laden has had a limited impact on regional asset prices,” analysts at Royal Bank of Canada summed up in a note on Monday.
Some of the sharpest reactions to the news of bin Laden’s death were in the commodities markets.
Oil prices slipped, with benchmark U.S. crude for June delivery falling $1.62 to $112.31 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Many analysts cautioned, however, that bin Laden’s death could stoke, rather than ease, worries about oil supplies and global security in the longer run if it led to retaliatory attacks.
“This is a positive development in the campaign against terrorism,” Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at Banco de Oro Unibank in Manila told Bloomberg News. “In the last 10 years, bin Laden’s presence has been a serious threat to global stability. The flip side is this could be followed by retaliation activities from his supporters.”
Gold, which had hit a new record of $1,575.79 an ounce earlier on Monday, fell to $1,551.80 in European morning trading. The precious metal, which is seen as a safer investment and tends to rise during times of rising inflation and global unrest, has been hitting successive record highs in recent weeks.
In India, the Sensex index was 0.6 percent lower by midafternoon amid widespread expectations that the Indian central bank will once again raise interest rates on Tuesday in a bid to tame rising inflation. Most other stock markets in the region, including Singapore, Hong Kong and mainland China, were closed for a public holiday.
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