European markets close lower except UK, US turns negative

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – European stock markets closed lower Friday except the UK, while US indices turned lower despite strong opening.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 1.23 points, or 0.26%, to close at 466.34. The index posted a 1.18% weekly decline.

Germany's DAX 30 lost 13 points, or 0.1%, to fall to 15,609, while France's CAC 40 was off 21 points, or 0.31%, to end the day at 6,663 points. This week, they were down 1.08% and 0.39%, respectively.

Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 was down 223 points, or 0.86%, to 25,686. Spain's IBEX 35 was the worst performer of the day by shedding 105 points, or 1.2%, to close at 8,695. The indices fell 1.45% and 1.9%, respectively, for the week.

London's FTSE 100 was the only gainer of the day by rising 5 points, or 0.07%, to 7,029. It declined 1.52% this week.

- Asian stock markets

Despite the selloff in Europe and the US, major stock markets in Asia closed the day with gains and posted weekly increases.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, jumped 43.2 points, or 1.08%, to close Friday at 4,045 points. It was up over 1.5% weekly.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange surged 373.65 points, or 1.25%, to 30,381. The index posted a 4.30% increase this week.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed 489.9 points, or 1.91%, to 26,206, while it had a weekly rise of 1.17%.

China's Shanghai stock exchange was marginally up 9.98 points, or 0.09%, to 3,703 points, while it surged 3.39% this week.

- Major indices in US

Major indices in the US opened strong on Friday, but failed to keep up the momentum as two of them later turned to negative.

The Dow Jones was down 35 points, or 0.1%, to 34,844 at 12.26 p.m. EDT (1626GMT), while the S&P 500 fell 1 point to 4,491.

The Nasdaq, on the other hand, was up 6 points to 15,254.

The VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, was at 18.19 with a 3.2% decline.

While the dollar index was up 0.1% to 92.55, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 3.5% to 1.346%.

Precious metals were down with gold falling 0.2% to $1,791 per ounce, and silver shedding 0.8% to $23.85.

Oil prices reversed course from previous day's losses by rising more than 2%. Brent crude was trading at $72.92 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate was at $69.75.