World stocks halt rally despite Apple gains; euro down
"If DGCA gives a report that safety cannot be assured certainly we will take action. We can cancel their license," he said.
World stocks paused near eight-month highs on Monday as investors awaited more evidence of economic recovery before taking on risk, although shares of Apple jumped more than 1 per cent after the company announced regular quarterly dividends and stock buy-backs.
The euro weakened against the dollar as some investors continued to bet against the common currency on worries about the implementation of Greece's economic reforms.
Concerns about Iran's nuclear program supported oil prices, but market sentiment remained positive overall.
"We have to pull back somewhat. We have got to get a little closer to technical support, just in order for the trend to remain healthy," said Peter Kenny, managing director at Knight Capital, in Jersey City, New Jersey. "Kind of like pruning the tree, the market needs a little bit of a pruning."
The Dow Jones industrial average was down 9.83 points, or 0.07 per cent, at 13,222.79. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 1.64 points, or 0.12 per cent, at 1,405.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 1.27 points, or 0.04 per cent, at 3,056.53.
Shares of Apple Inc rose 0.8 per cent to $590.12 after rising more than 1 per cent at opening as the world's most valuable company said it will start paying a regular quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share in July and buy back up to $10 billion of its stock beginning in its next fiscal year.
The maker of the iPhone, iPad and iPod has $98 billion in cash, and investors have been wondering for months what the company would do with that money.
In Europe, the FTSEurofirst 300 index was down 0.1 per cent. World stocks measured by the MSCI All-Country World Index were near stable at 336.08, close to levels last seen in late July.
Copyright @ Thomson Reuters 2012