HONG KONG — World shares mostly advanced on Monday and gold declined. Japanese stocks dipped and several stock markets in Asia were closed or trading for a half-day ahead of Lunar New Year celebrations.
In early European trading, Germany's DAX was up 0.2% to 24,958.01. Britain's FTSE gained 0.3% to 10,479.47, while the CAC 40 in Paris also rose 0.3% to 8,333.81.
In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei 225 was down 0.2% to 56,806.41, after the government reported that Japan's economy grew more slowly than economists had expected in the latest October-December quarter, at an annualized 0.2%.
The sluggish rate of growth increases the likelihood that Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will press ahead with plans to revive the economy by raising government spending and cutting taxes, Marcel Thieliant, head of Asia Pacific at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.
Trading was thin as stock markets in China, South Korea and Taiwan were closed. The first day of the Lunar New Year this year falls on Tuesday.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng gained 0.5% in its half-day session, closing at 26,705.94.
In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 picked up 0.2% to 8,937.10. India's Sensex was up 0.4%.
U.S. futures edged higher. The future for the S&P 500 rose 0.4%, while that for the Dow Jones Industrial Average was also up 0.4%. U.S. stock markets are also closed on Presidents Day, a holiday.
