Europe’s main stock markets flattened in opening deals on Friday, with London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index virtually unchanged at 7,704.19 points.
In the Eurozone, the Paris CAC 40 index flat lined at 5,493.99 points and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 edged up 0.1 percent to 13,297.74 compared with Thursday’s closing levels.
Tokyo stocks gain, shrugging off falls on Wall Street
Tokyo stocks closed higher Friday, shrugging off declines on Wall Street, with sentiment buoyed by hopes for Japanese corporate reports as the earnings season approaches. The Nikkei 225 index gained 0.19 percent, or 44.69 points, to 23,808.06, leaving it up 0.65 percent over the week. The broader Topix index was up 0.69 percent, or 12.88 points, at 1,889.74, giving it a weekly gain of 0.72 percent. “Early gains were slightly eroded by a strong yen,” Toshikazu Horiuchi, a broker at IwaiCosmo Securities, told AFP. “But the market has been sustained by expectations of strong earnings as corporate results season is set to begin next week,” Horiuchi said. Investors will focus on monetary policy meetings in Japan and the Eurozone next week, with the United States expected to raise the benchmark interest rate three times this year. On Thursday, Tokyo shares closed lower on late profit-taking after the key Nikkei index temporarily broke above the 24,000-mark for the first time in more than 26 years. The Nikkei is likely to continue trading around the 24,000-mark “given the favorable conditions of the world economy”, Okasan Online Securities said in a commentary.
