The curve of the German share price index DAX seen at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange yesterday.
LONDON: European stocks steadied yesterday as investors paused after last week’s gains, waiting for a barrage of delayed US data and quarterly company results.
At close, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.48 percent to 6,654.2 points. In Frankfurt, the DAX 30 edged up 0.02 percent to reach 8,867.22 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris dipped 0.21 percent to 4,276.92 points.
The dollar firmed and Wall Street was mixed. “If I could sum up today’s trading in one word it would be lacklustre, with Europe’s markets treading water ahead of an anticipated data deluge from the US this week...” said Michael Hewson, Senior Market Analyst at CMC Markets UK.
European equities had rallied last week after the United States narrowly avoided a debt default, and following news of stronger Chinese economic growth. On Monday, Paris investors seized on news of a major deal in the energy sector. French energy giant EDF clinched a deal worth £16bn to build Britain’s first new nuclear plant for a generation, with Chinese backing.
In Frankfurt, German business software giant SAP posted rising third-quarter net profits, lifted by its cloud computing activities. Quarterly net profit rose to 762m euros ($1.04bn), up 23 percent from a year earlier at SAP, a leader in supplying software systems for industrial sites and business management. SAP’s share price rallied 4.77 percent to 56.06 euros in response to the upbeat numbers.
Wall Street opened slightly firmer with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down 0.08 percent in the first minutes of trading, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq up 0.19 percent.
Asian markets mostly rose, with sentiment buoyed by last week’s deal in Washington to avert a default, as well as a record close on Wall Street. Hong Kong added 0.42 percent, Shanghai jumped 1.62 percent, Tokyo rose 0.91 percent and Sydney advanced 0.57 percent, while Seoul was flat.
With the US government shutdown and default crisis out of the way for the time being, investors are now eyeing the delayed release of US non-farm payrolls data today.
The figures, delayed because of the shutdown, will give investors a better idea of the state of the US economy and could have a bearing on when the Federal Reserve winds down its stimulus.
In foreign exchange market action on Monday, the European single currency slid to $1.3672 from $1.3682 late in New York on Friday, when it had hit an 8.5-month peak at $1.3704. The dollar firmed to 98.15 yen from 97.72 yen on Friday. Sterling was steady at 84.66 pence to the euro, and eased to $1.6150.
The price of gold advanced to $1,317.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, from $1,316.50 on Friday.
AFP
