European markets close mixed, US' Nasdaq turns positive

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Stock markets in Europe closed mixed on Monday, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq turned positive in the US after a weak opening.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, rose less than a point, or 0.15%, to close at 470.68.

London's FTSE 100 and Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 were up 0.13% and 0.54% at 7,132 and 26,139 points, respectively.

While Germany's DAX 30 was down 0.1% to 15,745, France's CAC 40 fell 0.06% to 6,813 and Spain's IBEX 35 lost 0.15% to 8,865.

In the US, the Nasdaq was up 23 points, or 0.16%, to 14,860 at 12.33 p.m. EDT with American pharmaceutical firms Moderna and Novavax soaring more than 11% each.

Video game retailer GameStop and electric carmaker Tesla added 5.5% and 2.3%, respectively.

On the New York Stock Exchange, however, the Dow Jones was down 78 points, or 0.22%, to 35,130, while the S&P 500 fell 4, or 0.1%, to 4,431 points.

On Friday, both indices hit record high levels of 35,246 and 4,440 points, respectively.

Despite opening in negative territory, the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 2% to 1.314, and the dollar index added 0.15% to $92.94.

The VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, climbed 5.5% to 17.04.

Precious metals extended their losses after a weak opening. Gold was down 2.1% to $1,726 per ounce and silver plummeted 4.1% to $23.33.

Oil prices also showed losses of around 2.4% as Brent crude fell to $69 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate stood at $66.5 a barrel as rising cases of coronavirus variants around the world continue to threaten global crude demand.

Major stock markets in Asia, on the other hand, all closed with gains on Monday.

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, added just 11 points, or 0.3%, to close at 3,879. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange gained 91 points, or 0.33%, to 27,820 points.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, climbed 104 points, or 0.4%, to 26,283. China's Shanghai stock exchange was up 36, or 0.15%, to 3,494 points.