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London, Frankfurt exchanges edge up
12/30/2005
LONDON, Dec 29 (AFP): The London and Frankfurt stock markets made slight gains Wednesday, boosted by retail sector reports and surveys showing British and German consumers willing to keep spending during the post-Christmas sales.
The London FTSE 100 index rose 0.49 per cent, gaining 27.4 points to finish at 5,622.8, while in Frankfurt the DAX edged up 0.04 per cent to 5,447.15. In Paris the CAC 40 slipped 0.26 per cent to close at 4,756.93.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares closed down 0.20 per cent to 3605.12.
In Europe, news that Britain's high streets were jammed with shoppers for the post-Christmas sales, adding to a report from John Lewis department stores of an 11.7 per cent increase in sales in the 31 days before Christmas compared with last year, helped to boost the sector.
Next gained 0.06 per cent to 1,545 pence while Marks and Spencer jumped 1.15 per cent to 504.25 pence, reaching its highest level since September 1998.
In Germany, the GfK polling organization said German consumers appeared more willing to spend as its forward-looking consumer sentiment index rose to 3.8 for January from 3.4 in December.
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