European Stock Markets Retreat After Strong Gains

London, July 3 (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 3rd Jul, 2020 ) :European stock markets retreated Friday, with investors banking recent strong gains made on solid US jobs data.

Playing catch-up with Thursday's American employment figures, Hong Kong added one percent, Tokyo gained 0.7 percent and Shanghai jumped two percent as traders also looked beyond China-Hong Kong tensions.

But Europe was down at the half-way mark Friday, with London losing 1.2 percent, Frankfurt shedding 0.5 percent and Paris off 0.9 percent.

The euro fell versus the Dollar and was flat against the British pound.

World oil prices retreated more than one percent.

"Now that the dust has settled in regards to the 4.8 million jobs that were added in the US last month, dealers might reflect on the fact that the continuing claims reading actually ticked up," said David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets UK.

While the US employment data gave a boost, new jobless claims remained elevated last week at 1.43 million.

"It would be tough to take the better-than-expected... payrolls numbers and extrapolate that there will be a V-shaped recovery in the US," AxiCorp's Stephen Innes said on Friday.

"The economy has brought back only about 30 percent of the jobs lost."Wall Street ended a shortened-trading week Thursday with another record-high for the tech-rich Nasdaq, with hopes for the economic recovery offsetting sharp increases in US coronavirus cases and as several states tightened restrictions ahead of the July 4 weekend independence celebrations.

"Volatility and trading volumes are expected to be low today as the US market will remain closed as it is a public holiday," Madden added.