European Markets In Negative Territory On Last Trading Day Of The Year

(RTTNews) - The European markets were in negative territory in thin trade on the last trading day of the year. Markets such as Germany, Switzerland and Italy are closed today, while the U.K., France and the Netherlands work half-day.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks fell 0.21 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, dropped 0.16 percent.

The French CAC 40 and the FTSE 100 index of the U.K. lost about 0.2 percent each.

In Paris, Technip fell 1.8 percent and Total was losing 1.6 percent.

Societe Generale lost 1.8 percent, while BNP Paribas lost moderately and Credit Agricole gained 0.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Alcatel Lucent climbed 1.5 percent and Alstom gained over 1 percent.

In London, J Sainsbury lost 2.1 percent. Experian declined 2 percent and Mondi fell 1.5 percent.

However, Vodafone gained 1.6 percent. Miner Rio Tinto, telecom firm BT Group and Inmarsat were moderately up.

The Asian stocks turned in a mixed performance on the final trading day of 2015 as a renewed slide in oil prices weighed on energy stocks and worries about slowing growth in China kept investors nervous.

In the U.S., futures point to a higher open on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 dropped about 0.7 percent each overnight in low volume trade and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 0.8 percent, as a sharp fall in oil prices dragged down energy stocks and downbeat housing data stirred some concerns about the state of the economy.

Crude for February delivery added $0.14 to $36.74 per barrel, while February gold edged up $1.8 to $1061.6 a troy ounce.