European markets experienced another day of choppy trading

The European markets experienced another day of choppy trading due to low trading volumes from Thanksgiving. Yesterday US markets were closed and although we will […]


Fiona Cincotta
By :  ,  Senior Market Analyst

The European markets experienced another day of choppy trading due to low trading volumes from Thanksgiving. Yesterday US markets were closed and although we will see some US investors return to the markets today, the majority will hold off until Monday.

Here in Europe markets took their lead from better than expected German economic data and signs that a deal could be struck for Greece to receive more funding.

An unexpected rise in German business sentiment figures for November has broken a six-month run of worsening outlook from companies in the powerhouse of Europe. German business confidence for November have risen to 101.4, up from 100 in October and beating expectations of 99.5. Although this news has come as a relief, if it doesn’t change the overall current picture of stagnation in Germany, evident from weaker industrial, exportation and growth data. However, it was sufficient to boost the markets and strengthen the euro.

European markets also found support in the hope that Greece will soon get the next tranche of the bailout funds which they need in order to avoid bankruptcy. It would appear that the IMF and European Union have overcome some of their differences over the target for a Greek debt reduction by 2020. However, a note of caution, as this is certainly not the first time that rumours of such have seeped into the market. So until an actual agreement has been reached and an official statement made, any gains will remain capped.

In the UK both the mining sector and the banking sector have seen gains. SAB Miller, the drinks giant was also up over 1%. After releasing its first half results yesterday SAB enjoyed more positive news in the form of broker upgrades. Nomura raised it from “reduce” to “neutral” and Credit Suisse reiterated its “outperform” rating on the shares. On the negative side Morrison Supermarket dropped 0.9% as Nomura downgraded the supermarket to “neutral” from “bullish”.

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