European equities mixed, U.S. markets closed

Los Angeles News.Net
Friday 3rd July, 2009

Some markets in Europe closed higher Friday, while others lingered.

Moves in either direction however were limited with U.S. markets closed for the Independence Day weekend.

"The heightened optimism of the past couple of months has been eroded into, with a dose of reality possibly creeping in with the worrying jobless figures in the U.S.," Owen Ireland, sales broker at ODL Securities told the Reuters newsagency. "Many market participants feel that economic and financial Armageddon has been avoided and therefore the rally from lows in March this year is justified, however there is no clear consensus on how and when recovery will ultimately take hold," said European strategists at Nomura.

Oil fell to $66 a barrel as concerns about prospects for a recovery in the global economy heightened.

At the close of trading Friday London's FTSE 100 was up 2.01 points or 0.05% at 4,326.28.

The Swiss SMI was down 16.72 points or 0.31% at 5,338.51.

The German Dax was down 10.28 points or 0.22% at 4,708.21.

In Paris the CAC 40 rose 3.10% or 0.10% to 3,119.51.

In Spain the Madrid General was up 7.07 points or 0.71% at 1,009.61.

The U.S. dollar was higher. As markets closed Friday the euro was quoted at 1.3978. The British pound fell to 1.6332, and the Swiss franc to 1.0864. The Australian dollar was weaker at .7978, while the Canadian dollar slid to 1.1620. The Japanese yen edged down to 95.99.

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