General Markets Review

Published / Last Updated on 30/03/2002

A short and fairly quiet week for the UK this week with markets closed on Good Friday.

Trading on Monday and Tuesday was mostly in the red, leading to overall losses for the week. The FTSE TechMARK did not get into the black until Thursday.

European markets also had a short week but seemed to fare better than the UK, taking more notice of news from the US. The European economy still seems to be picking up, evidenced by the recent business sentiment survey - up to 91.8 in March from 88.5 in February.

A confident week for the US with consumer confidence index soaring to 110.2 from the expected 98. Bitter sweet news from the durable goods order front. Gross domestic product data showed that the US economy had grown by 1.7% as opposed to the expected 1.4%. There was also a better than expected rise in the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index to 95.7 for March. The only real bad news in terms of US data came in the form of unemployment news. Markets were also closed on Friday for the Easter holidays.

Far Eastern markets were up and down for most of the week although the Nikkei in Japan managed at least some gains during the week. Japanese economic data was worse than expected and all hopes are pinned on a US recovery. Record rises in some markets were seen during the week although no record losses. Not all markets were closed on Friday for the holidays.

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