LONDON: European stock markets posted gains at the close yesterday as encouraging US economic indicators boosted sentiment on both sides of the Atlantic.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares added 0.36 percent to 5,859.71 points, Frankfurt’s DAX was 0.16 percent higher at 7,425.11 points and in Paris the CAC 40 was up by 0.47 percent to 3,513.81. The Spanish stock market gained 0.45 percent even as the government’s borrowing costs surged in a short-term ¤3.983bn ($5.2bn) debt auction.
Italian stocks ended the day 0.41 percent higher after Milan also paid rising rates in an otherwise successful ¤5.437bn bond auction. The European single currency climbed to $1.2948 from $1.2928 late in New York on Monday, while gold prices firmed to $1,772.60 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, up from $1,762.50.
In midday US trades, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.28 percent at 13,596.46 and the broader S&P 500-stock index had gained 0.25 percent to 1,460.59. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.33 percent to 3,171.29 points.
A jump in US consumer confidence and rising home prices were cited as key factors in the European market turnaround, as they had opened on a gloomy note.
The Conference Board’s September reading on consumer confidence jumped to its highest level since February after a plunge in August, while the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-city home price index posted its third straight monthly gain in July.
Year-on-year gains remained a modest 1.2 percent, but the data showed the crucial housing sector clearly pulling out of a slump.
Asian stocks were mixed earlier in the day, with traders spooked by news that German business confidence had hit a 31-month low level, wrangling over Greece’s budget and speculation over a possible Spanish bailout deal.
Spain has cut a deal with the European Union for a rescue loan of up to ¤100bn ($125bn) for banks hobbled by bad loans extended before a 2008 property market crash. But it has refused to be rushed into seeking a full-blown sovereign bailout until it knows the conditions.
In Asia, the Tokyo market was 0.25 percent higher, adding 22.25 points to 9,091.54 but Sydney slipped 0.29 percent, or 12.6 points, to 4,372.9 and Seoul shed 0.60 percent, or 12.03 points, to 1,991.41. Hong Kong shares ended flat in quiet trading as a week-long Chinese holiday approaches. The benchmark Hang Seng Index nudged up 3.98 points to 20,698.68.
AFP
