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Stocks turn negative, heading into the weekend ? Latest market Analysis

Another, now commonplace, rollercoaster ride of a week for investors ended on a down note, as the FTSE 100 fell 1.3%, to close 68.4 points lower at 5128.5. That meant that despite Tuesday’s fantastic leap of roughly 4%, the blue chip index gained just 62 points, 1.2% over the week.

It was almost like a bizarre and belated realisation that the previous day’s vote in Germany, merely ratified July’s agreed Greek aid package and provided no clarity on the additional developments yet required. Rumours spread that even the already agreed short term bailout may not be enough, adding to the weak sentiment overhanging the market. Perhaps traders were just grumpy that they were sat at their trading desks and not enjoying the sparkling weather outside.

With data released overnight suggesting that manufacturing in China was slowing somewhat it was no surprise that mining stocks, which fuel the commodity hungry nation, were amongst the worst performers. Alongside them were Asian focused banks, Standard Chartered and HSBC, on fears of a possible property price correction in China.

The falling markets were replicated both in Europe and also across the pond in the US, whilst Oil prices again declined, with Brent Crude falling nearly a dollar to $103.2.

Not surprisingly then, there were gains to be seen in the UK Gilt market, with the yield on the 10 year benchmark falling to 2.4% from 2.5%, and for Gold, which ticked 0.4% higher.

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