Foreign Stocks Mostly Higher

Major stock indexes in Asia and Europe closed mostly higher Monday, but volumes were light because U.S. markets were closed for the Labor Day holiday.

In a note Monday, J.P. Morgan Chase strategists recommended that investors stay long in equities.

“Global equities are well supported by strong profits, a stabilization in oil prices and cheap valuations versus bonds,” the bank said.

In currency trading, the U.S. dollar was higher against the euro but lower against the Japanese yen.

A rally in technology stocks helped London’s FTSE-100 index of leading British stocks close up 0.3% at 4563.8.

In Paris, the CAC-40 index was 0.2% higher at 3673.03. Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax index was up 0.53% at 3887.58.

Positive corporate investment data out of Japan helped lead stocks higher in Asia.

Japanese blue chips Canon, Honda Motor and Toyota Motor were boosted by data that showed business investment surged 10.7% in the April-to-June period, easing concerns that the country’s economic recovery might be stalling.

Tokyo’s benchmark stock index, the Nikkei stock average of 225 issues, ended up 221.88 points, or 2%, at 11,244.37 after falling 130.26 points Friday.

In Hong Kong, the main Hang Seng index rose 156.24 points, or 1.2%, to 13,104.34. On Friday, the index had lost 50.97 points.

Indexes in Singapore, Taiwan and Seoul also closed higher.

Australia’s benchmark S&P;/ASX index slipped 0.4 point, or 0.01%, to 3,576.9. Shares also fell in Malaysia and Indonesia.

The euro fell to $1.206 in Tokyo from $1.207 on Friday in New York, according to EBS, an electronic foreign-exchange dealing system. The dollar was at 110.07 yen, down from 110.60.

Economists said global attention probably would focus on U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s congressional testimony Wednesday as investors look for clues to the pace of U.S. monetary tightening.

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Bloomberg News was used in compiling this report.