Asia's stock markets end week lower, Europe turns negative

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – Major stock markets in Asia closed lower on Friday to finish the week with massive losses, while European indices turned negative as the German economy grew lower than estimates.

Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, fell 33 points, or 0.86%, to close at 3,821, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange plummeted 498, or 1.8%, to 27,283.

Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange, declined 354 points, or 1.35%, to 25,961, while China’s Shanghai stock exchange was down 14 points, or 0.42%, to close at 3,397.

This week, the Asia Dow lost 0.62% and Nikkei 225 fell 0.96%, while Hang Seng and Shanghai plummeted 4.97% and 4.3%, respectively, amid the Chinese government’s crackdown on tech companies for monopolistic practices and data security.

In Europe, indices gained on Wednesday and Thursday when major companies, such as Royal Dutch Shell, Airbus, Barclays, and Deutsche Bank, posted strong earnings in their second quarter results.

Major indices, however, turned negative on Friday, a drop sparked by the German economy’s second quarter growth of 1.5%, from the previous quarter, being less than the 2% market expectation.

Germany’s GDP growth for the April-June period was up 9.6% year-on-year.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was down 0.35% to 462.23 points at 1300GMT.

London’s FTSE 100 fell 0.72% to 7,027 points and Germany’s DAX 30 slipped 0.66% to 15,536.

The French stock market, CAC 40, was flat at 6,634, while Italy’s Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 lost 0.24% to close at 25,455 and Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 1.12% to 8,688.