Europe, Asia end week with losses

By early afternoon on Friday, Wall Street’s main indices had made slight gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.25 percent higher to 13,138.09, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.07 percent to 2,556.13 and the S&P 500 was up 0.08 percent to 1,495.43. The software sector had seen gains, while at least one internet retailer was lower after a broker downgrade. Meanwhile, General Electric (NYSE: GE) was higher on comments from Citigroup (NSYE: C) that included the recommendation that GE spin off NBC and several other units.

Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were lower on Friday. In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 and the Topix index were both lower on the session. The Nikkei fell 0.17 percent to 17,400.41, while the Topix dropped 0.14 percent to 1,701. A weaker yen helped exporters, but the decision of the Bank of Japan to keep interest rates where they are for the time being was bad news for the banking sector. Brokerage houses did a little better.

Elsewhere in Asia, the biggest losses came in India, where the Sensex dropped 2.25 percent to 13,908.58 on profit taking after four consecutive days of gains. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index fell 0.68 percent to 20,526.5, while in Singapore the Straits Times Index was 0.81 percent lower, to 3,398.6. Meanwhile in Australia, the Sydney Ordinaries dropped 0.92 percent to 6,141.

The markets also declined in Europe. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 fell 0.59 percent to 1,567.71, while the Xetra Dax dropped 0.12 percent to 7,378.12 in Frankfurt and in Paris the CAC-40 was 0.23 percent lower to 5,930.77. There were losses in the semiconductors sector. The oil sector was also lower at midmorning after oil prices dropped overnight.

In London, both the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 were also lower. The 100 fell 0.78 percent to 6418.7 while the 250 was 0.31 percent lower to 11,903.5. The UK oil sector followed the rest of the European sector lower. Miners were lower as well as copper prices declined during the week. One of the big gainers on the session was Scottish & Newcastle (LSE: SCTN), which was higher on continuing bids speculation.

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