European equities have opened weaker, pausing for breath after the European Central Bank pulled out nearly all the stops in trying to revive growth in the eurozone with surprise rate cuts and a sweeping bond-buying programme to inject fresh stimulus, reports FTAdviser sister title FastFT.
Asian markets closed lower - the FTSE Asia Pacific index sank 0.5 per cent - providing a limp lead-in for Europe, where the FTSE Eurofirst 300 rose by more than 1 per cent on Thursday.
Most traders are eyeing US job numbers due later today for the latest readout on the health of the US economic recovery - with the non-farm payrolls number for August coming at 1.30pm London time.
Here’s how the main European indices currently stand:
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 is down 0.15 per cent or 2 points at 1,398 points.
The FTSE 100 in London is down 0.1 per cent or 7 points at 6,870.
The Xetra Dax in Frankfurt is down 0.2 per cent or 17 points at 9,707.
The CAC 40 in Paris is down 0.15 per cent or 7 points at 4,488.
The ECB sent European equities to six-year highs yesterday after it caught markets off guard by cutting its benchmark refinancing rate to a new record low of 0.05 per cent and announcing it would buy hundreds of billions of euros of private sector bonds, in a bid to stave off economic stagnation in the eurozone.
Many in the markets had expected the central bank to keep its powder dry until it had the chance to gauge the success of easing measures it revealed in June.
Most of Friday’s main European data are already done - German industrial output jumped by 1.9 per cent month-on-month in July - well ahead of expectations and the prior month rise of 0.3 per cent.
Meanwhile, French consumer confidence for August has remained unchanged at 86.
At 10am, revised GDP figures for the eurozone in the second quarter are released.
