World equity markets mostly up

Equities markets were mostly up on Friday and for the week as quarterly and mid-year results were a bit more mixed.

In New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.3 percent for the day to close at 10,303.44, even though it’s gain for the week was only 0.1 percent. It was up 2.2 percent in the second quarter.

The S&P 500 closed out the week with a daily rise of 0.3 percent to 1,194.44 and a weekly rise of 0.2 percent but a drop of 0.9 percent for the second quarter.

The NASDAQ was unchanged at 2,057.37 on Friday, with a gain on the week of 0.2 percent and a second quarter gain of 2.9 percent.

In London, meanwhile, the FTSE 100 gained 1.6 percent this week to 5,161.0, it’s highest level since May of 2002. It was up 6.2 for the first half of the year.

Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 closed on Friday at an all-time high of 7,446.2, up 1.6 percent for the week.

The week’s advances on both London indexes were driven by the telecommunications and oil sectors.

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.7 percent on Friday to close at 1,149.75 as the telecommunications sector was up, but technology stocks were mixed.

The eurozone index was up 5 percent in the second quarter and gained 9.6 percent in the first half of the year.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 was up 0.4 percent on Friday to 11,630.13, while the Topix gained 0.39 percent to 1,181.80, aided by better-than-expected corporate sentiment.

Export-dependent companies gained value on the weakness of the yen.

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