LONDON: European stock markets wobbled yesterday as traders marked time ahead of a key policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve due this week.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index rose by 0.07 percent to 6,725.82 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 slid 0.08 percent to 8,978.65 points. However the CAC 40 in Paris dropped 0.48 percent to 4,251.61 points. Trading volume was down in London as heavy storms in Britain kept many dealers away from the office.
Last week global stock markets had won support with traders betting that the Fed will delay winding down its $85bn-a-month bond-buying stimulus for some time, helping drive the DAX above 9,000 points for the first time.
There had been a widespread belief that it would begin tapering by December at the latest, but analysts say that recent weak US jobs data and this month’s government shutdown have made that unlikely.
The prospect of a continuation of the Fed’s pump-priming — which sees vast sums of dollars flooding the financial system — weighed on the greenback last week with the euro reaching a two-year high at $1.3832 on Friday.
The euro traded at $1.3788, which compared with $1.3801 late in New York on Friday. The dollar rose to 97.71 yen from 97.38 on Friday. The British pound slid to 1.1706 euros and $1.6138.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold climbed to $1,361 an ounce from $1,347.75 on Friday.
US stocks were rose slightly, gaining little traction from industrial production data or pending home sales data. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.12 percent to 15,588.68 points in midday trading. The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.22 percent to 1,763.65, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index edged up 0.01 percent to 3,943.67.
Industrial production rose by a more-than-expected 0.6 percent in September after a 0.4 percent gain in August, the Federal Reserve said. However the headline number masked a meagre 0.1 percent gain in manufacturing in September. Pending home sales fell for a fourth straight month by 5.6 percent.
Asian markets rose. Tokyo jumped 2.19 percent, Sydney climbed 1.02 percent while Seoul rose 0.68 percent. Shanghai ended flat while Hong Kong added 0.48 percent. AFP
