FTSE 250 drops nearly 2 percent
by Elaine Frei
London equities markets saw substantial declines Friday, with the FTSE 100 1.17 percent lower to 6,289.3 and the FTSE 250 falling 1.95 percent to 10,954. European markets also declined on the session. The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was 1.07 percent lower to 1,508.11. The Paris CAC-40 dropped 0.49 percent to 5,538.92 and the Dax was down 0.51 percent to 7,497.74 in Frankfurt, while Madrid’s IBEX fell 1.54 percent to 13,861.
New York equities markets were down at midday on sales and consumer confidence data, although hopes for an interest rate decrease helped limit declines. In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.08 percent to 13,413.99, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.14 percent to 2,597.47 and the S&P 500 had fallen 0.15 percent to 1,481.79.
In contrast, most Asia-Pacific markets saw gains on Friday. The major exception in Asia was India’s Sensex, which dropped 0.07 percent to 15,603.8. The Shanghai Composite added 0.73 percent to 5,312.18, while the Straits Times index was up 1.02 percent to 3,536.4. The Sydney Ordinaries gained 1.14 percent to 6,315 in Australia, while the S&P/ASX200 was 1.22 percent higher to 6,306.8. In Taiwan the Taiex index added 1.17 percent to 9,031.63. South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.19 percent to 1,870.02. Meanwhile in Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index closed at a new record high for the third day in a row as it gained 1.47 percent to 24,898.11. The Tokyo equities markets were higher. The Nikkei 225 was 1.94 percent higher to 16,127.42. The Topix index gained 1.43 percent to 1,544.71, while the Mother’s market was up 1.34 percent to 637.25.
Crude oil was up 1 cent on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising to another new record high at $80.36 per barrel earlier in the session. Metals prices were mixed, with platinum lower on concerns that demand will decline after a Japanese carmaker said it has developed a fuel cell that does not require the metal. Among agricultural commodities, both corn and soybeans were higher in afternoon trade.
The US dollar strengthened as most analysts decided that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates next week, but only by 25 basis points rather than the 50 basis points some had earlier predicted.
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