▸ Tech sec­tor boosts stock mar­kets and Google par­ent hits $3tn valu­ation

▸ Weaker US eco­nomic data lift hopes for interest rate cut from the Fed

▸ Gold price at fresh record high on hopes of rate fall and weaker dol­lar

Global stock mar­kets star­ted the week on a bright note as tech head­lines buoyed investors hop­ing for the first US interest rate cut of the year.

A pos­it­ive tone in equity mar­kets was sup­por­ted by a fil­ing show­ing Elon Musk had bought $1bn worth of Tesla shares, while Google's par­ent Alpha­bet broke through the $3tn mar­ket value in morn­ing trad­ing on Wall Street. The blue-chip S&P 500 index of US stocks was up 0.5 per cent by early after­noon in New York.

The tech-heavy Nas­daq Com­pos­ite rose 0.9 per cent. It has gained more than 15 per cent this year as optim­ism over the growth of AI, and solid quarterly profits announce­ments for Big Tech groups, over­came investor con­cerns on tar­iffs and the health of the US eco­nomy.