European stock markets closed lower this evening after weaker than expected US growth figures stirred concern about the strength of the economic recovery. London's FTSE fell 56 points (1%) to close at 5,258. In Paris, the CAC fell 0.24% to 3,643 and the Frankfurt DAX dropped 0.2% to end at 6,148.
Dublin's ISEQ index managed to reverse its earlier losses to inch five points higher (0.16%) to close at 2,915. The banking shares were mixed with Bank of Ireland adding 4% to 85 cent, while Irish Life Permanent was down 0.8% to €1.75. Shares in Aer Lingus finished over 2% lower at 93 cent after the airline said its passengers will not be affected by a row involving cabin crew at the company.
Wall Street stocks were starting to recover this evening from huge losses stemming from government data that showed a slowdown in the US economic recovery. After falling as much as 1% in opening trade, the Dow Jones was down 12 points (0.12%) to stand at 10,454 after data showed US economic growth declined to 2.4% in the second quarter from a upwardly revised 3.7% in the first three months of the year. The Nasdaq index rose three points (0.13%) to 2,255.
Earlier, Tokyo's Nikkei index fell 159 points (1.6%) to end at 9,537 as more signs that the US economic recovery may be stalling outweighed a wave of upbeat domestic earnings. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index lost 64 points (0.3%) to close at 21,030.
