European stocks end higher except UK; S&P, Nasdaq gains in US

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - European stock markets closed higher Thursday except for the UK, while S&P 500 and the Nasdaq turned positive in the US.

London's FTSE 100 lost 26 points, or 0.37%, to close at 7,193, despite hitting an all-time high of 7,220.70 earlier in the day.

STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, ended at 474.84 with a 0.1% gain, close to its record high of 475.13.

Germany DAX 30 and France's CAC 40 also hit all-time highs of 15,964.38 and 6,891.29, respectively. But, they retreated to finish at 15,937 and 6,882 points with 0.7% and 0.36% gains.

Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 posted again a record high of 26,574.91 before closing at 26,557 with a 0.38% increase.

Those five indices posted record highs on Wednesday.

In the US, the Dow Jones was still in negative territory after a weak opening amid investors' worries about rising inflation after producer prices soared 7.8% in July on an annual basis, much higher than the market estimate of 7.3%.

The blue-chip index was down 35 points, or 0.1%, to 35,450 at 12.40 p.m. EDT.

The S&P 500 added 5 points, or 0.12%, to 4,453 and the Nasdaq gained 16, or 0.11%, to 14,781.

Despite an increase earlier in the session, VIX volatility index, known as the fear index, fell into negative territory -- 15.51 with a 3.4% loss.

The dollar was still hovering around 92.9 and the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes was up 0.5% to %1.366.

Precious metals were still in the negative with gold down 0.05% at $1,750 per ounce and silver at $23.2 for a 1.5% loss.

Oil prices were almost flat with Brent crude at $71.43 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate standing at $69.23.