European stock markets closed narrowly mixed yesterday after an uneven set of economic data with investors carefully watching events in Japan, the Middle East and eurozone struggler Portugal.
Dealers said the continuing crisis at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant, damaged by the massive March 11 earthquake is depressing sentiment in Asia and having a knock-on effect in Europe.
The violence in Libya and widespread popular protests for change in the Middle East add to the uncertainty while another ratings downgrade for Greece and Portugal stoked fresh fears over the prospects for the eurozone.
In London, the FTSE 100 index of leading shares closed up 0.47 per cent to 5,932.17 points. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.27 per cent to 3,987.80 points but in Frankfurt the DAX slipped 0.06 per cent to 6,934.44 points.
Dealers said investors appeared to adjusting positions ahead of key US jobs data due Friday which will set the tone and put recent weaker figures in perspective.
IG Index trader Yusuf Heusen in London said trade was subdued ahead of the end of the month and also the first quarter when books will be closed.
“The situation in Japan clearly remains critical, so traders will be keeping a watchful eye on further developments ... (while) oil prices are easing on news that the rebels in Libya are making further progress.”
In Paris, Renaud Murail at Barclays Bourse said prices were holding up well.
“It is difficult to find rational reasons for this latest rise ... dealers are being prudent,” he said, noting that volumes were thin which usually makes for wider price swings.
Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam added 0.37 per cent, Brussels rose 0.40 per cent, Madrid slipped 0.15 per cent, Milan dropped 1.04 per cent and Swiss stocks were flat.
In New York, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.49 per cent at around 1600 GMT and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.72 per cent.
Dealers there said the gains were surprising given the bad news backdrop and a disappointing reading on consumer confidence – which fell to 63.4 per cent for March from 70.4 per cent in February, hitting hopes for a strong recovery.
The Conference Board said rising food and energy prices eroded confidence that had reached a three-year high in February.
“Consumers’ inflation expectations rose significantly in March and their income expectations soured,” said the Conference Board’s Lynn Franco.
Meanwhile, US house prices fell sharply in January and appeared to be heading lower than the market bottom in early April 2009. Dealers said the advance, despite the bad news, was in keeping with recent gains as investors who have been sitting on the sidelines come back into the market, albeit carefully, on hopes for a strong recovery.
In Asian trade earlier yesterday, markets were hit by fresh concerns about Fukushima after plutonium was detected in soil around the plant while highly contaminated water has leaked from a reactor.
Tokyo fell sharply at one stage but finished the day down 0.21 per cent, with Shanghai off 0.87 per cent and Hong Kong flat while resilient Sydney added 0.47 per cent.