Global stocks mostly up ahead of central bank talks

Global stocks mostly rose Monday, buoyed by a boost in oil prices, as traders looked to upcoming US and Japanese central bank policy meetings for hints of future action.

Bourses in Frankfurt, London and Paris posted handsome gains, while US equities were flat ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting starting Tuesday.

"It's just a Fed market at this time and we should not expect too much movement either way until the Fed is out of the way," said Peter Cardillo, chief economist at First Standard Financial Company.

Concern that years of cheap cash could be coming to an end has roiled markets this month.

Some Fed officials signaled their desire to push ahead with higher interest rates. Yet that sentiment is countered by tepid inflation levels and caution about lifting US rates at a time when other central banks are still enacting new stimulus.

That includes the possibility that the Bank of Japan will enact new measures to boost the economy at the end of its two-day meeting on Wednesday.

"By and large, most market participants don't expect the Fed to raise rates this week," said Briefing.com analyst Patrick O'Hare.

"That could make for one doozy of a surprise then if the Fed did, but completely upending the market with an interest rate hike would be out of character for the Yellen-led Fed."

- Miners, oil in play -

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index closed sharply higher, up 1.5 percent compared with the close on Friday.

Gainers including mining companies like Glencore and BHP Billiton, and petroleum companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, which climbed on higher oil prices.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 1.0 percent and the Paris CAC also regained some of last week's losses, closing 1.4 percent higher.

Mikael Jacoby, at Oddo Securities in Paris, said Monday's rebound in Europe was "mostly technical" and a reaction to price falls last week, themselves a result of profit-taking.

The broad-based S&P 500 finished unchanged, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.2 percent.

The Nasdaq was hit by a 1.3 percent decline in Apple, which gave back some of last week's 12 percent gain ahead of the launch of the latest iPhones.

Tokyo markets were shut Monday for a public holiday.

Hong Kong ended 0.9 percent higher as investors returned from a three-day weekend to play catch-up with Friday's regional rally.

Shanghai, which was closed Thursday and Friday, rose 0.8 percent and Singapore added 0.3 percent.

- Key figures around 2100 GMT -

New York - DOW: DOWN less than 0.1 percent at 18,120.17 (close)

New York - S&P 500: UNCHANGED at 2,139.12 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 0.2 percent at 5,235.03 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP 1.5 percent at 6,813.55 (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 1.0 percent at 10,373.87 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.4 percent at 4,394.19 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.2 percent at 2,970.11 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 0.8 percent at 3,026.05 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.9 percent at 23,550.45 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: Closed for public holiday

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1175 from $1.1156 late Friday

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 101.88 yen from 102.27 yen

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.3028 from $1.3004