European stocks except Italy end day higher, post weekly losses

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - European indices except Italy ended Friday with gains, but they posted weekly losses as the US Federal Reserve (Fed) rattled markets with signals of tapering.

STOXX Europe 600 added 1.56, or 0.33%, to reach 468.8. The index, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, fell 1.47% weekly.

London's FTSE 100 gained 29 points, or 0.41%, to close the day at 7,087 and Germany's DAX 30 increased 42 points, or 0.27%, to 15,808. The indices lost 1.81% and 1.06%, respectively, this week.

The French CAC 40 increased by 20, or 0.31%, reaching 6,626 points but plummeting 3.91% for the week.

Italy's FTSE MIB was the only European index that closed in negative territory on Friday by falling 10 points, or 0.04%, to 25,918, while it suffered a weekly loss of 2.75%.

Spain's IBEX 35 rose 13 points, or 0.15%, to close the day at 8,915. However, it was down 0.93% this week.

The weekly losses came after the Fed minutes were released on Wednesday, which showed that officials discussed the $120 billion monthly asset purchase program.

The minutes signaled that the central bank could begin as early as this year to reduce accumulating new assets on its balance sheet in a process known as tapering.

After three consecutive days of losses, the US stock market opened higher on Friday and extended its gains later on.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 263 points, or 0.76%, at 34,158 as of 12.40 p.m. EDT (1640GMT), while the S&P 500 rose 34 points, or 0.8%, to 4,440.

The Nasdaq jumped 148, or 1.02%, to 14,690.

Despite a weak opening, oil majors shook off low oil prices and climbed into positive territory. ExxonMobil and Chevron were up 0.36% apiece at the time, while ConocoPhillips rose 0.55%.

Brent crude was down 1.5% to $65.46 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate fell 1.7% to $62.42.

After four consecutive days of increase, the VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, plummeted 14.7% to 18.48. The dollar index fell by a slight 0.1% to 93.48.

The yield on 10-year US Treasury notes, on the other hand, increased 0.9% to 1.253%.

Precious metals were mixed as gold rose 0.3% to $1,785 per ounce, but silver lost 0.2% to $23.2.

After posting consecutive days of decline with the Fed's tampering signal, cryptocurrencies recovered strongly.

Bitcoin was around $48,700 with a 6.3% increase, while Ethereum added 7.1% to $3.265.