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Thursday April 25, 2024

Global stocks mixed after torrid week

LONDON: Global stock markets finished mixed on Friday at the end of a turbulent week driven by worries over China´s slowing growth with some relief coming from data showing the strength of the US economy. Global equities were hammered on Black Monday as risk-averse investors dumped shares on spreading panic

By our correspondents
August 30, 2015
LONDON: Global stock markets finished mixed on Friday at the end of a turbulent week driven by worries over China´s slowing growth with some relief coming from data showing the strength of the US economy.
Global equities were hammered on Black Monday as risk-averse investors dumped shares on spreading panic that the flagging Chinese economy -- the world´s second largest -- could spark a new worldwide recession.
However, sentiment was soothed by Tuesday´s interest rate cut from the People´s Bank of China (PBoC) and by Thursday´s bright gross domestic product (GDP) data in the United States.
"After a hectic rollercoaster of a week across financial markets... the moves by the PBoC and the better-than-expected US GDP have revived risk-taking to a degree," said London Capital Group analyst Brenda Kelly.
In Europe, London´s benchmark FTSE 100 index closed up 0.90 percent and the CAC 40 rose 0.36 percent. But Frankfurt´s DAX 30 index slipped 0.17 as investors remained cautious after a yo-yo week of trading.
In Asia, Tokyo led the gains on Friday, with Shanghai and several other markets in tow after the US reported a surprisingly strong new estimate of economic growth at 3.7 percent for the second quarter. Hong Kong, however, dropped 1.04 percent.
IG Markets analyst Angus Nicholson cautioned that "there still does not seem to be the macro foundations for indices to fully recover from their corrections, as concerns over China and uncertainty over Fed rate hikes continue to linger."
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Stanley Fischer said Friday that no decision had been made yet on raising interest rates at the US central bank´s September 16-17 policy meeting.
"The change in the circumstances which began with the Chinese devaluation is relatively new and we are still watching how it unfolds. So I wouldn´t want to go ahead and decide right now," Fischer told CNBC television in an interview.
Wall Street equities were also trading mixed around midday Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.40 percent lower, the broad-based S&P 500 down 0.13 percent, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index was up a slight 0.03 percent.