European stock markets closed broadly higher yesterday after mixed US employment figures that analysts said pointed to modest economic growth ahead.
But data left Wall Street investors unsettled, driving down US stocks after a sluggish trading day in Asia, where markets had mixed fortunes on what investors saw as uncertainties hanging over US prospects.
In London the FTSE 100 index gained 0.67 per cent to finish at 4,838.09 points while in Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.25 per cent to 3,348.37. In Frankfurt the DAX fell 0.40 per cent to end the week at 5,834.15 points.
Elsewhere Madrid added 0.79 per cent, Amsterdam 0.11 per cent and Milan 0.69 per cent.
On Wall Street the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.95 per cent at mid-day at 9,640.39 while the tech-heavy Nasdaq had shed 0.79 per cent to reach 2,084.86.
The US unemployment rate fell to 9.5 per cent of the workforce in June as more than half a million discouraged Americans quit the job hunt, adding to pessimism in some quarters about the health of the economic recovery.
The unemployment rate fell from 9.7 per cent to its lowest level in a year, while the number of jobs actually shrank for the first time since December, the Labour Department said.
Some 125,000 posts were lost last month, adding to worries that the economic path ahead will be bumpy.
But the falling unemployment rate offered a little succor to President Barack Obama, who is running out of time to put the economy back on track before congressional elections in November.
"Make no mistake, we are headed in the right direction but... we are not headed there fast enough for a lot of Americans. We are not headed there fast enough for me either," Mr Obama said.
Most analysts had expected the ranks of jobless Americans to swell beyond 15 million in June, pushing the unemployment rate up to 9.8 per cent.
In the end the number of unemployed fell to 14.6 million in June as 652,000 Americans left the job market and more than 20,000 took up temporary posts.
Added Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors: "This was not the type of report that would bring smiles to investors' faces or convince anyone at the Fed that the recovery has shifted into a higher gear."
But he added that the report "does not argue a double-dip (a new slide into recession) in the making."
"The labour market is recovering at a sluggish pace... And that points to modest growth ahead."
Analysts in Paris said European sentiment was also affected by news that US industrial orders had declined in May, which prevented markets from rebounding significantly after a week of turbulence.
Pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis fell 2.42 per cent yesterday on rumours that it was contemplating a $20 billion acquisition in the United States.
Banks in Paris were by contrast well supported, with BNP Paribas adding 1.64 per cent and Societe Generale 0.12 per cent.