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Stock market stable ahead of Euro meeting - Latest market Analysis

Markets began a new week in positive territory, continuing the upward trajectory initiated by European short selling restrictions and better than expected US jobs data on Friday. Adding to the gains was data from Japan that showed the economy shrank less than expected in April-June, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami in March. The FTSE, with an above average exposure to commodity and oil companies, was an obvious beneficiary of the brighter demand outlook.

With the FTSE up around 0.5%, sentiment took a negative turn as investors learnt that the German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy would not be discussing the possibility of a Eurobond in their meeting tomorrow. Banks were weaker on the news, cautious ahead of another political meeting given their role in previous sell-offs. Barclays suffered disproportionately, ending the day 2.1% lower at 183p.

European markets were buoyed by a higher open on Wall Street, American equities benefitting from Google’s $12.5bn acquisition of Motorola Mobility and other M&A activity. After a more stable trading day than has been seen of late, the FTSE 100 managed to put on 30 points to finish up 0.6% at 5350.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by John Dance .