European stock markets closed lower on Friday as a worse-than-expected US jobs report heightened concerns over the strength of the world's largest economy and further weakened the US dollar.
The London FTSE 100 index slipped 0.07 percent to close the day at 4,747.9 points, the Frankfurt DAX 30 shed 0.18 percent at 4,208.87 points and the Paris CAC 40 fell 0.73 percent to 3,783.51 points. The euro stood at US$1.3393, easing back from a record high of US$1.3399 in intraday trading. The euro's fresh surge against the dollar as the data filtered into the market compounded negative sentiment, dealers said.
US nonfarm payrolls increased a disappointing 112,000 in last month, well below economists' expectations of a 204,000 increase, while the unemployment rate dipped to 5.4 percent, according to the US Labor Department.
By the close of the London stock market, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 27.40 points at 10,612.50, while the tech-rich NASDAQ was ahead by 9.42 points at 2,152.99.
In London, mining stocks were to blame for most of the FTSE 100's losses as sliding metal prices and cautious comments from UBS weighed on the sector.
UBS cut its target price on Anglo American and Rio Tinto, pushing the two shares lower. Anglo American fell 1.52 percent to £12.35 and Rio Tinto lost 1.64 percent at £14.96.
Elsewhere in Europe, the Amsterdam AEX dropped 0.28 percent to 343.48 points, the Brussels BEL-20 shed 0.36 percent at 2,895.06, the Madrid IBEX-35 slid 0.27 percent to 8,787.9 and the Milan MIB 30 gave up 0.20 percent at 29,908.0.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six