Europe: Stocks mostly ease at open

EUROPEAN stock markets opened mostly on a weaker footing on Friday (Jul 22) as investors digested the implications of the European Central Bank's bigger-than-expected rate cut and a mixed showing in Asia.

After around 15 minutes of trading, London's benchmark FTSE 100 was showing a modest gain of 0.1 per cent at 7,282.21 points, but Frankfurt's DAX index fell by 0.3 per cent to 13,210.52 points and the Paris CAC 40 shed 0.3 per cent to 6,185.92. AFP