European stocks ease in early deals
European stock markets fell in morning trading after a mixed showing by Wall Street overnight and as investors banked profits at the end of a strong first quarter, dealers said.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares dipped 0.06 percent on Thursday to 6,011.50 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 dropped 0.20 percent to 5,971.99 points and in Paris the CAC 40 eased 0.18 percent to 5,230.86 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares decreased by 0.39 percent to 3,859.48 points.
The euro stood at 1.2122 dollars.
European markets, especially London, have risen strongly during the first quarter on strong company earnings and takeover activity. The FTSE 100 closed at 6,036.30 points on March 24 -- the highest finish since February 19, 2001.
US shares ended mostly lower Thursday as investors worried about a spike in long-term interest rates, dealers said, but the tech-heavy Nasdaq index eked out a modest gain to notch a fresh five-year high.
On Friday, Japanese share prices gained slightly in late trade to close at their highest level for more than five years after data showed further signs of a recovery in the economy.
In London, heavyweight mining stocks fell on profit-taking. On Thursday, mining shares had soared as metals prices, including platinum, copper and zinc, hit historic high points on strong buying by funds.
Mining giant Rio Tinto fell 0.97 percent to 2,952 pence and rival Anglo American lost 0.85 percent to 2,227 pence.
Tate and Lyle, Europe's biggest sugar refiner, dropped 1.81 percent to 568.5 pence after broker Deutsche Bank cut its price target on the food manufacturer after a mixed trading update earlier in the week.
ITV, the biggest British commercial television network, dropped 1.20 percent to 123.50 pence after it rejected an improved takeover offer from a consortium comprising private equity groups Apax and Blackstone, as well as US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The new bid valued ITV at about 5.3 billion pounds (7.6 billion euros, 9.2 billion dollars). ITV had on March 22 rejected an initial bid by the consortium worth about 4.9 billion pounds.
In Frankfurt, the German stock market operator Deutsche Boerse dipped 0.69 percent to 118.92 euros after its supervisory board had said late Thursday that it "welcomed" the decision of its management board to launch concrete negotiations with Euronext on a potential merger.
Deutsche Boerse said on March 15 that it was interested in a merger of equals with Euronext, which operates the Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Madrid exchanges. Euronext gained 2.66 percent to 67.6 euros in Paris trade.
On Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had shed 0.58 percent to close at 11,150.70 points.
The Nasdaq, meanwhile, gained 0.13 percent to 2,340.82 points, the best close since February 2001. The broad-market Standard and Poor's 500 index dipped 0.20 percent to 1,300.25.
In Asia on Friday, Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei-225 index rose 0.08 percent to close at 17,059.66 points, the highest closing level since August 2000.
Hong Kong's key Hang Seng Index closed 0.48-percent lower at 15,805.04 points, erasing earlier gains.
AFP
