European stocks down
European markets mostly fell on Friday as investors awaited news on a
bailout deal for Greece expected this weekend, while the euro gained and
bond markets eased at the end of a tumultuous week.
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A stock broker works in front of the daily graph of the German
share index DAX at the stock exchange in the central German city
of Frankfurt am Main on April 30, 2010. The DAX opened for
business at 6155,57 points. (AFP Photo) |
The London stock market fell 1.15 percent, Paris slipped 0.62 percent
and Frankfurt edged down 0.15 percent.
Paris markets were down 3.4 percent compared to last Friday.
All three main markets had rallied Thursday on news that a Greek debt
bailout was near, with sentiment also lifted by positive company
results.
“Expectations of an announcement about a joint EU-IMF bailout of
Greece within days have helped soothe investor anxiety about an imminent
Greek default,” said CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.
“And (this) has seen the euro continuing to pull away from this
week’s 12-month lows,” he said.
The euro jumped to 1.3300 dollars during late trading in London, up
from 1.3229 dollars in New York late Thursday, and after striking a
one-year low of 1.3115 on Wednesday.
As pressure eased, Greek bond yields, indicating the price the
government would have to pay to raise new money on financial markets,
fell under nine percent.
The rate on 10-year paper came to 8.938 percent against 9.039 percent
on Thursday. The yield on Wednesday soared to a record 11.142 percent.
“Expectations are clearly running high that the Greek bailout deal
will be sealed in the near term and this is helping lift equities as we
move towards the long weekend,” said IG Index analyst Anthony Grech.
“Financial markets have been generally cheered by the prospect that
these large tranches of sovereign debt they are holding won’t go bad.”
AFP |
