Shopping trolleys are lined up at a Tesco supermarket in London. Tesco saw its share price slump 1.3% to 293.5 pence yesterday after indications that the supermarket group had suffered its largest quarterly drop in domestic sales for four decades.
AFP
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Europe’s main stock markets wobbled yesterday, with caution prevailing on the eve of interest rate decisions in Britain and the eurozone, dealers said.
London’s FTSE 100 index of top companies 0.26% to 6,818.63 points, taking a hit from poor quarterly earnings from Britain’s biggest retailer Tesco.
The CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.06% to 4,501points, but Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.07% to 9,926.67 points. Milan slid 0.16% and gave up 0.20%.
European stocks pushed down after the services purchasing managers index (PMI) compiled by data firm Markit showed the French economy still stagnating and raised concern about the potential impact of the Ukraine crisis on German companies that are highly dependant on exports.
The slid further after US payrolls company ADP said the US private sector added 179,000 new jobs in May, a drop of 36,000 from April and the lowest number in four months.
And the Commerce Department reported that the US trade deficit swelled 6.9% to $47.2bn in April, much bigger than the 2.2% increase projected by analysts, which further damaged sentiment
However European and US stocks, which had fallen at the opening of trade, perked up after data showed that activity in the US services sector, the driver of the world’s largest economy, surged in May.
In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.01% to 16,724.60 points.
The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.12% to 1,926.60, and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.33% to 4,247.88.
In European share action, Tesco saw its share price slump 1.3% to 293.5 pence after indications that the supermarket group had suffered its largest quarterly drop in domestic sales for four decades.
Meanwhile, shares in French bank BNP Paribas rose 1.2% to 51.5 euros after President Francois Hollande said he planned to raise the issue of a looming US fine reported to be over $10bn with his US counterpart Barack Obama when they meet later yesterday.
In Paris, Hollande’s office at the Elysee Palace also revealed that he had already written to Obama two months ago in defence of the bank against the “disproportionate” penalties being considered against BNP Paribas for having broke US sanctions against Iran, Sudan and Cuba between 2002 and 2009, and that the two presidents had discussed the matter since.
In foreign exchange deals on yesterday, the euro slid to $1.3620, down from $1.3627 late in New York on Tuesday.
The European single currency slipped to 81.33 British pence from 81.36 pence.
The British pound weakened to $1.6746 from $1.6750 on Tuesday.