Europe: Stock markets mixed at open

[LONDON] European stock markets opened narrowly mixed Tuesday, with London lower but eurozone indices up slightly despite extremely weak data coming out of the single currency bloc.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped 0.2 per cent to 6,457.43 points.

In the eurozone, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index gained 0.3 per cent to 12,855.65 points and the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.5 per cent to 5,201.02.

"The lifting of the coronavirus lockdown and hopes of a quick recovery are feeding trader optimism, although the lack of fresh catalysts is seeing that optimism start to fade," said Fiona Cincotta, analyst at City Index trading group.

The Bank of France on Tuesday said the French economy would shrink by about 10 per cent this year on the fallout from Covid-19, recovering to pre-crisis levels only by mid-2022.

Meanwhile in Europe's biggest economy Germany, exports tumbled 24 per cent month-on-month in April to 75.70 billion euros (S$118.90 billion), official data showed.

The steady European open came after Tokyo ended a six-day winning streak.

Wall Street powered to a strong finish on Monday, with the Nasdaq hitting a record high and the S&P 500 erasing its losses for the year.

AFP