European Stock Markets Fall At Open

LONDON, Jan 5, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 05th Jan, 2017 ) - Europe's main stock markets fell at the start of trading on Thursday as investors digested Federal Reserve signals on the pace of future US interest rate rises.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index dipped by a few points to 7,187.80 points, compared with the closing level on Wednesday which was a fifth record high finish in a row. In the eurozone Thursday, Frankfurt's DAX 30 index opened with a loss of 0.4 percent at 11,584.3 points and the Paris CAC 40 dropped 0.

4 percent to 4,881.72.

US central bankers on Wednesday hinted that they may need to raise interest rates faster than planned owing to "considerable uncertainty" linked to US President-elect Donald Trump's fiscal stimulus plans that risks fanning inflation.

This was according to minutes of the final 2016 policy meeting in December at which the US central bank lifted rates. Wall Street stocks won solid gains Wednesday in the wake of the Fed's update, while Tokyo shares ended flat Thursday.