European equities have opened hesitantly higher at the end of the trading week, uncertain how to view pending interest rate decisions, the effects of Ukraine-related sanctions and the prospects for Scottish independence.
Overnight, Asian bourses were mixed following the release of data showing that Chinese credit grew in August, while US investors continued to fret over when the Federal Reserve might start lifting interest rates, reports FTAdviser sister title FastFT.
Jonathan Sudaria, dealer at London Capital Group, commented: “With next week’s risk events looming, traders are suffering from paralysis analysis as it’s impossible to predict let alone discount how the Fed, BoE minutes and the Scottish referendum will turn out.
“Will the Fed make a clear shift on its timetable of rate hikes? Will the two hawks on the MPC become a trio? Will the people of Scotland fall for Alex Salmond’s promises and thus spark a wave of secessionist movements across Europe?
“With all that to ruminate over, it’s unlikely that traders will be looking to put on any large positions going into the weekend. However, even the weekend won’t give traders any respite from the mental mind games as we are expecting Chinese data on Saturday morning to continue the theme of a continual slow down.”
Here’s how the major European indices currently stand:
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 is up 0.2 per cent or 3 points at 1,387 points.
The FTSE 100 in London is up 0.2 per cent or 13 points at 6,813.
The Xetra Dax in Frankfurt is up 0.04 per cent or 4 points at 9,696.
The CAC 40 in Paris is up 0.05 per cent or 2 points at 4,443.
Novo Nordisk is top of the FTSE Eurofirst 300 - up 2.7 per cent at DKr274 - on the overnight news that the US Food and Drug Administration had said the Danish healthcare company’s obesity drug liraglutide was safe and effective enough to warrant approval.
In London, shares in Aveva have fallen 19 per cent to £17.53 after the IT engineering group warned first-half revenues would fall short of expectations, due to the impact of the strong pound, a salesforce reorganisation and limper demand in some of its important markets.
