AlQa'dah 16, 1436, Aug 31, 2015, SPA -- Global stocks were mostly lower Monday after a U.S. Federal Reserve official suggested a September interest rate hike still was possible and weak Japanese factory activity provided more evidence of a sluggish global economy, AP reported. In early trading, France's CAC-40 fell 1.2 percent to 4,619.91 and Germany's DAX lost 1.3 percent to 10,164.90. Wall Street looked set for losses at the open. Futures for the Dow Jones industrial average and Standard & Poor's 500 were both off 1 percent. The Shanghai Composite Index was down by as much as 2.6 percent during the day but recovered to close down 0.8 percent at 3,205.99. The index is down more than 30 percent over the past three months despite government efforts to halt a tumble in prices. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 lost 1.3 percent to 18,890.48 and Sydney's S&P ASX 200 lost 1.1 percent to 5,207.00. India's Sensex shed 0.3 percent to 26,316.54 and Seoul's Kospi advanced 0.2 percent to 1,941.49. Bangkok and Jakarta rose while Singapore and New Zealand fell. Industrial production declined unexpectedly by 0.6 percent in July from the previous month, defying forecasts of a small increase following June's 1.1 percent rise. Benchmark U.S. crude declined 77 cents to $44.45 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract soared $2.66 the previous session to close at $45.22. Brent crude, used to price international oils, fell $1.06 to $48.99 per barrel in London after jumping $1.49 the previous day to $50.05. The dollar declined to 121.17 yen from 121.38 yen on Friday. The euro rose to $1.1215 from $1.1180.
