European stocks closed mixed yesterday while the euro remained under pressure in thin pre-holiday trade, hitting a 10-year low against the yen over concerns about the eurozone crisis and another global downturn.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies dipped 0.10 per cent to close at 5,572.28 points in a half-day session, ending the year down 5.5 per cent.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.85 per cent to close at 5,898.35 points, finishing the year down 14.7 per cent.
In Paris the CAC 40 gained 1.03 per cent to 3,159.81 points, down 16.95 per cent over the year.
Frankfurt and Paris will reopen on Monday, while London returns for business on Tuesday.
Milan’s FTSE Mib rose 1.22 per cent to 15.089,74 points, but over the year lost 25.2 per cent, as fears remain that the eurozone crisis will persist following a disappointing debt sale by Italy.
The European single currency slumped to 99.97 yen in London morning trade – which was the lowest level since December 2000 and the first time it has breached the key 100-yen barrier since June 2001.
It later recovered to stand at 100.19 yen in afternoon trading, still below 100.61 yen on Thursday in New York.
“Euro/yen is the ultimate risk-off trade at the moment,” Forex.com research director Kathleen Brooks said.
“That is where investors’ fears regarding the single currency are being manifested,” adding that risk of intervention by the Bank of Japan to prop up the yen “has just notched up a gear”.
However the euro held above $1.29, trading at $1.2958 in the afternoon. On Thursday it had tumbled to $1.2858 – the lowest since September 14, 2010 – before rebounding on brighter US economic data.
“With traders already gearing up for New Year’s Eve, shortened sessions in some regions and no US data in the afternoon, there’s little expectation of anything significant happening today,” said dealer Jonathan Sudaria at trading group Capital Spreads.
“As traders say goodbye and probably good riddance to 2011 – a year that saw most of the European and Asian indices recording double-digit losses – traders may not be so welcoming to 2012 either.
“The one bright spark to 2011 has been the resilience of the United States, given the weak global economic backdrop.
“However, with the European debt crisis still outpacing policymakers’ ability to curtail it, and uncertainty over how China’s slowdown will land, downside risks are already lining up for 2012.”
US stocks were flat in midday trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average shedding 0.08 per cent to 12,277.31 points.
The tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 0.09 per cent to 2,616.19 points, while the S&P 500, a broad measure of the markets, slipped 0.03 per cent to 1,262.61 points.