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World market indices slide

05 December 2008 08:39 (UTC +04:00)

Baku. Vahab Rzayev - APA-Economics. US stocks retreated on Thursday after two positive sessions. Investors reacted to job cuts at AT&T and other major companies ahead of Fridayâ€™s employment data.
The Dow fell 215.45, or 2.51 per cent to 8,376.24, while the NASDAQ was down 46.82, or 3.14 per cent to 1,445.56. The S&P 500 slid 25.51, or 2.93 per cent to 845.23.
European shares ended lower on Thursday despite steep cuts in interest rates by the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Riksbank in Sweden.
The European Central Bank earlier cut its rate by 0.75 percentage points to 2.5%.
Sweden took a record 1.75 percentage points off its policy rate to 2% and the Bank of England cut a percentage point off its base rate to bring it to 2% - the lowest level since 1951.
Market reaction indicated that even more sweeping moves may be needed to halt the worldwide economic slowdown.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index closed 0.4% lower at 826.71 points in choppy trade. The index is down 45% to date this year.
Across Europe: Germanyâ€™s DAX fell 0.07% and Franceâ€™s CAC 40 was 0.2% lower.
In Britain, the FTSE 100 closed down 6.35 points, or 0.2%, at 4,163.61 points.
In Frankfurt - the DAX index ended at 4564.23 points, down 3.01 or 0.07%. In Paris, the CAC-40 index closed at 3161.16 points, down 5.49 or 0.17%.
The Swiss market index closed at 5649.14 points, up 44.91 or 0.8%.
The Japanese bourse let go of 1 per cent on Thursday as profitability concerns hit exporters affected by the global slowdown. Merger talks between Nippon Oil and Nippon Mining also failed to ignite sentiment.
The Nikkei 225 slipped 79.86 points or 0.99 per cent to 7,924.24. The index has rallied over 13 per cent since hitting 26 year lows in October.