AFP
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Europe’s main stock markets closed mixed yesterday amid concerns about French public finances and uncertainty over the outcome of Scotland’s looming independence referendum.
The euro slipped slightly against the dollar, which had hit a six-year high against the yen. The British pound remained weak, battered by prospects that Scotland may yet split from Britain.
Wall Street opened slightly higher, after falling on Tuesday as the launch by Apple of a watch and new iPhone petered out and the Federal Reserve signalled more stringent capital requirements for banks.
In share trading, Europe’s biggest home-improvements chain Kingfisher shot to the top of London’s FTSE after announcing the appointment of a new chief executive, while Santander shares slumped slightly in Madrid after the Spanish bank said its chairman, aged 79, had died.
In commodities trading, world oil prices sank after the Opec oil cartel trimmed its demand growth forecasts and signs of weaker-than-expected crude demand in top consumer the US.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of top companies ticked up a slight 0.02% to 6,830.11 points at the close, as investors still remain cautious eight days before the Scottish independence vote.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 closed down 0.11% to 9,700.17 points and in Paris the CAC 40 declined 0.04% to stand at 4,450.79 at the close.
France pushed back its target to hit EU deficit rules by two years, potentially putting the eurozone’s second-biggest economy on a collision course with Brussels.
Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Paris would not get its ballooning budget deficit down to the EU limit of three% of gross domestic product (GDP) until 2017, the expected date of the next presidential election in France.
In early trading in New York the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.02% to 17,010.86 and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.02% to 4,553.18.
Around 1600 GMT the pound rebounded slightly against the dollar and the euro after Bank of England governor Mark Carney commented on a possible rate hike by spring 2015.
The British currency was $1.6137 after hitting a fresh 10-month low of $1.6052 earlier yesterday and stood at 79.98 pence versus the euro.
The euro was trading at $1.2906, down slightly compared with $1.2937 late in New York on Tuesday.
The European single currency had struck a 14-month low of $1.2860 at one point on Tuesday, coming under pressure after the European Central Bank last week announced a fresh rate cut and monetary easing measures.
Attention fell on Kingfisher and its operations in France yesterday. The company’s share price jumped 4.26% to close at 320.30 pence after Kingfisher announced that French national Veronique Laury is to become its chief executive officer, replacing Ian Cheshire who is retiring.
The British group announced also a drop in half-year net profits.
Meanwhile in Madrid, Santander closed down 0.65% to €7.7000 after the bank said that its president Emilio Botin had died from a heart attack. It later announced that his eldest daughter, Ana Botin, would succeed him.
The launch of a smartwatch by Apple, pushed shares in Swiss group Swatch, the world leader in watches, down 1.76% to close at 491.70 Swiss francs in Zurich.
On commodity markets in late afternoon deals, Brent North Sea crude for October sank to $97.72 a barrel, the lowest point since April 18, 2013.
In New York light sweet crude for delivery in October was down $1.22, trading at $91.53. Around 1505 GMT it fell to $91.22, its lowest point since May 2, 2013.
Gold was at $1,251 an ounce from $1,255.75 late on Tuesday on the London Bullion Market.