London’s FTSE 100 closed flat once again on Thursday, dragged down by housing heavyweights and oil companies. The blue chip index closed 7 points or 0.1 per cent down, at 7,020.
Midcaps had a better day, outperforming blue-chips for a third straight session. The domestically focused FTSE 250 index rose 19 points to 22,659.
US stocks advanced slightly on Thursday, as weekly jobless claims last week fell more than expected to a 14 month low, helping the recovery sentiment.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 141 points, or 0.41 per cent, to 34,464, the S&P 500 gained 5 points, or 0.1 per cent, to 4,200 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 2 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 13,736.
On Friday, Asian stocks edged higher with positive global cues as Japan’s Nikkei 225 led gains, advancing over 600 points or 2.1 per cent by noon. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng pushed higher, aided by JD Logistics Inc’s debut, trading 183 points or 0.6 per cent up. South Korea’s Kospi also saw an upward graph in the first half of the session, trading 0.8 per cent higher.
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Chinese blue chip stocks however had a volatile session and trading little changed. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged higher in the initial few hours, however, is trading slightly lower.
Indian indices opened higher bolstered by positive global cues as NSE’s Nifty hits intra-day record high of 15,455, on Friday, with BSE Sensex was hovering around 51,450.