Yahoo Finance LIVE: FTSE rises and Wall Street falls as US private sector hiring slows
European stocks found firmer footing on Wednesday amid rising bets of a peak in global interest rates, a downturn in the UK construction sector, and a hiring slowdown in the US.
In London, the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) closed 0.5% higher, with mining stocks providing support and recovering some of Tuesday’s falls.
Industrial metal miners led the gains, climbing 2% as prices of most base metals and iron ore rose. Precious metal miners also jumped more than 1% tracking higher gold prices.
Meanwhile the CAC (^FCHI) gained 0.8% in Paris, and the Frankfurt DAX (^GDAXI) was also 0.9% higher, hitting a fresh record high. The STOXX 600 (^STOXX) was also 0.6% up.
Across the pond, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 (^IXIC) was treading water by the European close, while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dipped almost 0.1%, and the Dow (^DJI) was also little changed.
It came as hiring in the American private sector cooled in November, according to the latest ADP report.
It added 103,000 jobs during the month, lower than the 113,000 created in October, and sharply below the expectation of 127,000 new jobs.
Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: "European markets saw another positive session yesterday with a new record high for the German DAX, while the FTSE 100 fulfilled its role as the perennial party pooper with another disappointing session and closing lower for the second day in succession,"
"This was mainly due to weakness in metals and energy prices with Brent crude prices (BZ=F) closing at a 5-month low."
Elsewhere, the UK’s construction sector fell sharply for the third month in a row in November as housebuilding slumped.
According to S&P Global, the construction purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 45.5 points, below economists expectations of 46.3. Any reading above 50 indicates growth, whereas below shows a contraction.
The housebuilding index was particularly weak, at 39.2, with civil engineering at 43.5 and the commercial building segment at 48.1.
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