UK markets saw a record fall, not seen for 5 years on Wednesday, putting the FTSE 100 below the 4600 mark. However, solid gains on Thursday and Friday took the FTSE 100 to an overall loss of just short of 1%. The FTSE TechMARK fared slightly worse for the week, losing just short of 4%.
European markets played out the week in a very similar fashion to the UK markets. The first three days of trade this week were dubious and firmly in the red for most of trade. However, solid gains were seen on Thursday, with whopping gains on Friday, hopefully getting markets over the problems of accounting practices and into a new era of confidence.
US markets had a pretty bad week but managed to end on a high note, despite the fact that unemployment had risen slightly. It was a short week with a day and a half off for the July 4 celebrations. By the close on Friday, the Dow Jones had risen massively, giving confidence to traders in the rest of the World.
Far Eastern markets ended the week on a high note. Markets in Hong Kong and South Korea were closed for one day this week. Trading was fairly volatile across the board but more positive news was received from the Bank of Japan, agreeing to help banks with bad debts. The Bank of Korea also decided to leave interest rates alone. Towards the end of the week, Japanese exporters were back in favour with the Yen weak against the Dollar. However, scepticism is rife and investors believe the Dollar will again weaken.