HONG KONG: Stocks around the world were mixed on Monday as volatility in technology stocks persisted in Asia, while stocks in France led losses in Europe following mass protests against the rising cost of living and poor school conditions.
U.S. equity futures edged higher ahead of another week of American corporate earnings results.
Oil prices fell around 2% after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to waive sweeping sanctions on Russia, including on Russian energy.
In early European trading, France's CAC 40 sank 1.3% to 7,854.31 after violent protests over the weekend. More than 2,000 people were arrested nationwide, and French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday condemned the violent demonstrators in a televised address.
Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.8% to 10,795.31, while Germany's DAX dropped 1% to 25,360.14.
In Asia, South Korea's benchmark Kospi index was up 1.8% to 5,768.01 on Monday, after falling sharply last week. The Kospi is down more than 17% over the past month, and still well below the 9,000 mark it crossed in June at its peak on the global AI frenzy.
Samsung Electronics was up 1.2%, while memory chipmaker SK Hynix added 0.4%.
Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.6% to 64,916.70. Japanese chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron fell 2.6%, and OpenAI investor SoftBank Group dropped 2%.
