All of the major stock markets closed lower on Friday; the only variable was how big the losses were. In Europe over the course of last week, the FTSE fell by 2.5%, closing at 5060.9; the CAC dropped by almost 5% closing at 3563.8; the Dax shed 3.1%, ending the week at 5434.3.
US markets fared slightly better than their European counterparts. The Dow ended the week down 0.55%, finishing the trading session at 10012.2. The Nasdaq performed a little better than its bigger brother, managing to end the week down by just 0.29%, closing at 2141.1.
The Nikkei fell into the middle ground with losses worse than in the States, but better than those seen in Europe. It closed down by 1.4% over the course of the week ending trading at 10057.1.
On the currency markets last week, the Dollar strengthened against Sterling and the Euro, but fell back against the Yen. Against the Euro, the US currency strengthened by 1.5% over the course of the week on the back of continued Euro weakness, closing at 1.3969. The Greenback was stronger against the British Pound, making 2.1% closing at 1.5678 to the Pound. The Dollar closed at 89.4675 to the Yen, a slide of 1.4% on the week.
The Euro had yet another poor week and fell by 2.9% against the Yen closing at 122.49. It did gain against Sterling over the week making gains 0.7%. The close saw one £ buying 1.1452€. The relative weakness of the Euro may boost Eurozone export figures – we’ll see when data is released for January.
On the commodities market, the price for Brent crude oil was lower for a fourth week, closing at $69.59 per barrel (for March delivery); the price of Brent crude dipped by a further 2.6% over the course of the week’s trading. The value of gold continued to weaken over the course of the week’s trading, closing at 1054.5 $ per ounce, representing a depreciation of 3%.
The Last Week’s Trading Activities In Perspective - 8 February 2010
DailyForex.com