European stock exchanges weak
Milan bourse down 0.43%, Italian spread at 314 points
15 March, 20:49
(ANSA) - Milan, March 15 - Major European stock exchanges
made a weak showing on Friday, while markets awaited the outcome
of the two-day European Council summit in Brussels.Milan's FTSE-Mib lost 0.43% to close at 16,061 points, while Europe's biggest loser was Paris's CAC 40 index, down 0.80%. Madrid's IBEX 35 and London's FTSE-100 slipped 0.61% and 0.65% respectively. Frankfurt's DAX index was nearly flat, losing 0.19%.
Interest rates on Italian bonds closed 314 basis points higher than the German bund on Friday, while the yield on Italian 10-year bonds was 4.6%. The spread between Italian bonds and the German benchmark is a key measure of Italy's borrowing costs and of investor confidence in the country's ability to weather the eurozone crisis. The difference between the Italian and Spanish spreads continued to widen on Friday to 32 basis points, compared to 21 points Thursday, and 10 points on Wednesday.
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