Stockmarkets across Europe remained steady in early trading ahead of the next meeting of the European Central Bank this afternoon.
Germany’s Dax index moved 0.1 per cent higher in early trading as of 8.34am, while France’s Cac 40 equity index was relatively flat with a 0.09 per cent gain.
In the UK the FTSE 100 index has climbed 0.5 per cent to 6,882.47 and the FTSE 250 index is up 0.3 per cent, with markets appearing to react well to Bank of England governor Mark Carney’s comments yesterday that the BoE is willing to cut rates further if necessary.
Meanwhile in the US equity markets were more sluggish, with the Dow Jones index down 0.06 per cent and the S&P 500 index flat with a 0.01 per cent decline. In Asia the Nikkei 225 index in Japan slipped 0.3 per cent in spite of second quarter GDP growth being revised upwards. Although China fared better with the Shanghai Composite index up 0.2 per cent following better than expected trade data for August.
