Europe’s main stocks markets traded mixed in cautious deals yesterday before next week’s US monetary policy meeting, with the mining sector suffering from weaker commodity prices, dealers said.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares fell 0.37 per cent to 5,685.73 points in midday trade.
On the upside, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 added 0.14 per cent to 6,622.75 points and in Paris the CAC 40 gained 0.27 per cent to 3,862.30. And the Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone companies rose 0.20 per cent to 2,861.90 points.
Investor sentiment was muted before a meeting of the US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee that is expected to unveil new stimulus measures to boost the country’s jobless recovery.
“Traders seem wary ahead of the Fed’s next meeting on November 3 as volume seems to be increasingly on the downside,” said ETX Capital trader Manoj Ladwa.
“Given the recent gains and the difficulty the (London) market had pushing through the 5,800 level, a pullback to around 5,400 looks increasingly likely in coming days.”
Expectations of further US quantitative easing helped push up markets earlier this month, but this effect has tailed off amid uncertainty about the degree of US central bank intervention.
Tomorrow’s first estimate of third-quarter US gross domestic product could play a key role in the central bank’s decision on easing measures.
In London, resources giant Anglo American saw its share price slip 1.54 per cent to 2,885 pence and peer Antofagasta shed 1.69 per cent to 1,279 pence.
“Mining stocks are the biggest losers as commodities give back some of their recent gains,” added Mr Ladwa.
Investors also digested a barrage of company results in Germany, with earnings news from software giant SAP, Deutsche Bank, power group E.ON and automaker Volkswagen.
SAP shares slid 2.94 per cent in Frankfurt after it revealed that net profits rose 12 per cent to €501 million ($690 million) in the third quarter, but undershot market expectations.
Volkswagen shares fell 0.24 per cent, despite news that third-quarter net profit leapt more than 10-fold to €2.2 billion ($3 billion) on strong demand and strict cost controls.
On the upside, Deutsche Bank shares rallied 2.28 per cent after it posted a sharp third-quarter loss of €1.2 billion ($1.66 billion) that included a one-off charge stemming from its takeover of Postbank. Investors shrugged off the news because the lender’s underlying operating profits remained stable.