London markets up as US gives strong performance

London equities markets ended both the day and the week up on Friday. The FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent, closing at 4,971.8 for the day, with an overall rise of 1.8 percent for the week. The FTSE 250 was up 0.1 percent to 6,934.3 on the day, to bring the week’s gain to 2.1 percent. 2.7 billion shares were traded on Friday.

Meanwhile, in Europe the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.4 percent for the week to close at 1,092.68, a one-month high. Much of the Eurofirst’s success for the day rested on technology stocks. In New York, mid-day trading saw the markets slightly down for the day.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had declined by 0.4 percent to 10,447.60, the S&P 500 was down 0.3 percent to 1,187.29, and the Nasdaq Composite was 0.2 percent lower to 2,037.90. However, the Dow seemed to be heading for a 3 percent rise on the week, while the S&P 500 was expected to end the week 2.9 percent higher, and the Nasdaq seemed to be positioned to close 3 percent higher for the week. These trends would give Wall Street the best weekly performances it has had since November.

In Tokyo, the markets were down on Friday. The Nikkei 225 fell 0.4 percent on the day to close at 11,037.29, while the Topix index declined 0.1 percent, closing at 1,129.81. Performance in Tokyo was at least partly a reaction to the decision by the Bank of Japan to temporarily ease its liquidity targets. Some analysts said that the move could be the first move toward a tightening of monetary policy, but the nation’s finance minister said that policy change was not being contemplated.

Story link: London markets up as US gives strong performance