25 Jul 2009

European stocks end winning streak

6:14 am on 25 July 2009

European shares ended a little lower on Friday after advancing for nine consecutive sessions. Weaker technology stocks have overshadowed gains made by financial shares.

Consumer confidence in the United States waned in late July to its lowest reading since April.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended 0.1%lower at 907.39 points.

Despite Friday's decline, the index is up 11.1% over the past two weeks and has gained 9% this year.

Technology stocks were the worst performers: Ericsson was down 7.7%. Alcatel-Lucent, Infineon Technologies and Nokia were down 1.9% - 3.9%.

However, banks gained. Standard Chartered, Societe Generale, Banco Santander and Barclays were up 1.3% - 3.3%.

In Frankfurt - the DAX index ended at 5,229.36 points, down 17.92 or 0.34%.

In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3,366.45 points, down 7.27 or 0.22%. The Swiss market index closed at 5,760.9 points, down 4.61 or 0.08%, but 166.76 points higher on the week.

However, in London, the FTSE 100 index ended up 0.37%, or 16.81 points, at 4,576.61, its highest closing level since 7 January.

Other markets

In Tokyo, the Nikkei ended 151.61 points higher, 1.6%, at 9,944.55 - its highest close since 30 June.

In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index close up 0.8% at 19,982.79, after breaching 20,000 points for the first time since September 2008.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX index rose 25.7 points. 0.6%, to 4,089.8. The All Ordinaries index gained 24.7 points, or 0.61%, to 4097.3 points - its highest level since 6 November.

In New Zealand, the NZX 50 index finished up 42 points to close at 2961 on turnover of $110 million.

The dollar was trading at 65.53 US cents, 80.46 Australian cents, 39.76 pence, 62.16 yen and 0.4631 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 61.45.