By: Mike Campbell
All of the major stock markets closed higher at the end of last week’s trading session with the best performance coming from the Nikkei. In Europe over the course of last week, the FTSE put on 0.5%, closing at 5625.7; the CAC put on 0.4% closing at 3927.4; the Dax rose by 1.2% ending the week at 5945.1.
It was a similar picture in the US markets. The Dow ended the week up by 0.6%, finishing the trading session at 10624.7. The Nasdaq again performed a little better than its bigger brother, managing to end the week up by 1.8%, closing at 2367.7.
For once, the Nikkei showed the largest growth, closing stronger by 3.7% over the course of the week ending trading at 10751.3.
On the Forex trading markets last week, the USD was mixed against other major currencies. Against the EUR, the US currency weakened by just 1.4% over the course of the week closing at 1.3765 to the Euro. The Greenback was weaker against the British Pound by 0.7% closing at 1.5155 to the Pound. The Dollar closed at 90.4976 to the Yen, a rise of 1.2% on the week.
The Euro had a slightly better week on the back of continuing optimism on the Greek, debt situation and strengthened by 2.5% against the Yen closing at 124.57. It rose against Sterling over the week by 0.6%. The close saw one £ buying 1.10096€.
On the commodities market, the price for Brent crude fell back slightly, closing at $79.4 per barrel (for April delivery); a dip of 0.6% over the course of the week’s trading. The value of gold also depreciated; closing at 1110 $ per ounce, representing a fall of 2.6%.