European stock exchanges wilted on Friday due to investor concern about continued interest-rate hikes in the eurozone and the US and in response to disappointing corporate news.
The London FTSE 100 index fell 0.25 percent to close at 5,517.4 while the Frankfurt DAX finished flat, off 0.09 percent at 5,282.13. In Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.19 percent to 4,661.01.
The Euro STOXX 50 index of leading eurozone shares gave up 0.27 percent to finish at 3,500.80.
Analysts in Paris said investors grew anxious following the appearance of a press interview on Friday in which German central bank head Axel Weber, a member of the board of governors of the European Central Bank, suggested that the ECB could soon approve a further hike in eurozone interest rates.
The ECB last week raised its benchmark interest rate a quarter point to 2.25 percent, its first hike in five years.
The US Federal Reserve, according to IMF chief economist Raghuram Rajan, is likewise predicted to continue tightening monetary policy this month and again early in the new year.
But on the currency market the US dollar slipped against the euro amid a growing belief that Fed policymakers might in fact soften their rhetoric following next week's interest rate decision, signalling that their rate-hiking cycle may be nearing an end.
The euro rose to US$1.1820 in late European trading, from US$1.1818 late on Thursday in New York.
Wall Street shares hovered in a narrow range on concern over surging energy costs, with doubts starting to emerge about the rally that started in October.
The market was hit by heavy selling in Merck, due to a report that it withheld key information from a study on its controversial Vioxx treatment, and in Intel, hurt by a weaker-than-expected forecast in semiconductors.
In London, oil issues were hurt by Kuwait's sale of 185 million shares in BP to a banking consortium. BP fell 1.69 percent to ?6.40. Royal Dutch Shell shed 1.51 percent to ?18.86.
But retailers showed strength ahead of the holiday shopping season. GUS gained 3.69 percent to close at ?9.7050, while Marks and Spencer added 1.43 percent to reach ?4.79.
In Paris, oil group Total fell one percent to 217 euros on profit-taking that followed its surge on Thursday.
France Telecom was stable at 25.39 euros on news that it might be interested in acquiring Arcor, the German fixed-telephone subsidiary of Britain's mobile phone giant Vodafone.
Chip maker Infineon gave up 0.89 percent to reach 7.78 euros after falling from fifth to seventh place in worldwide sales according to estimates from the Gartner research group.
Elsewhere there were declines of 0.24 percent to 3,448.05 on the BEL-20 in Brussels, 0.16 percent to 34,811 on the SP/MIB in Milan, 0.06 percent to 10,489.3 on the IBEX-35 in Madrid and 0.25 percent to 431.13 on the AEX in Amsterdam.
The Swiss Market Index rose 0.10 percent to 7,567.40.
Real estate agent and property developer JSL Construction & Development Co (愛山林) led the average compensation rankings among companies listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) last year, while contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) finished 14th. JSL Construction paid its employees total average compensation of NT$4.78 million (US$159,701), down 13.5 percent from a year earlier, but still ahead of the most profitable listed tech giants, including TSMC, TWSE data showed. Last year, the average compensation (which includes salary, overtime, bonuses and allowances) paid by TSMC rose 21.6 percent to reach about NT$3.33 million, lifting its ranking by 10 notches
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic fuel stations are this week to rise NT$0.2 and NT$0.3 per liter respectively, after international crude oil prices increased last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices last week snapped a two-week losing streak as the geopolitical situation between Russia and Ukraine turned increasingly tense, CPC said in a statement. News that some oil production facilities in Alberta, Canada, were shut down due to wildfires and that US-Iran nuclear talks made no progress also helped push oil prices to a significant weekly gain, Formosa said
MINERAL DIPLOMACY: The Chinese commerce ministry said it approved applications for the export of rare earths in a move that could help ease US-China trade tensions Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng (何立峰) is today to meet a US delegation for talks in the UK, Beijing announced on Saturday amid a fragile truce in the trade dispute between the two powers. He is to visit the UK from yesterday to Friday at the invitation of the British government, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. He and US representatives are to cochair the first meeting of the US-China economic and trade consultation mechanism, it said. US President Donald Trump on Friday announced that a new round of trade talks with China would start in London beginning today,
RSS