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| - Stock markets largely stumbled Friday with traders taking their foot off the pedal before a much-anticipated earnings season that could give fresh impetus to the recent global equities rally. While some countries are having trouble with their vaccine programmes and a pick-up in infections, there is a general feeling that governments will get a better hold on the crisis and allow economies to reopen, even if a little later than previously hoped. Wall Street provided another strong lead overnight, with the S&P 500 chalking up a second successive record and the Nasdaq piling on more than one percent as tech shares regained their mojo. "Tech outperformance may have lifted US markets, yet Europe has found little upside as they head towards the weekend," noted Joshua Mahony, senior market analyst at IG trading group. Germany's industrial production dropped for the second month in a row in February after eight months of gains, as the economic impact of the pandemic began to bite, official data showed Friday. Analysts said the data raised fresh doubts about the health of Europe's top economy after it recovered strongly from the coronavirus-triggered downturn of early last year. Separate data showed Chinese producer prices rose at their fastest pace in more than two years owing to a jump in the cost of commodities. That has led to concerns the increases will filter through to the world economy from the export giant, putting pressure on central banks as they try to keep borrowing costs down. Axi strategist Stephen Innes said the figures "might add a ripple or two of angst to the inflation pacifist calm that has fallen on the market". The main stocks indices in Hong Kong and Shanghai closed down around one percent Friday as traders kept tabs on China-US relations after Washington restricted trade with top Chinese supercomputing centres on security grounds. In the US, Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell has again repeated his mantra that the bank would stand fast in its pledge to keep borrowing costs at record lows for as long as needed to support recovery in the world's top economy. While last week's blockbuster US jobs report was welcome, he said the "recovery remains uneven and incomplete" and he wanted to see more of those before he was happy progress was being made. Analysts said an unexpected rise in jobless claims last week backed up Powell's stance. There remains a concern that strong recovery expectations, President Joe Biden's vast spending sprees, and the rollout of vaccines will fan inflation to a point that the Fed will be forced to lift rates earlier than it intends. London - FTSE 100: DOWN 0.1 percent at 6,933.53 points Paris - CAC 40: UP 0.2 percent at 6,180.65 Frankfurt - DAX 30: UP 0.1 percent at 15,215.75 EURO STOXX 50: UP 0.1 percent at 3,980.98 Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 29,768.06 (close) Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: DOWN 1.1 percent at 28,698.80 (close) Shanghai - Composite: DOWN 0.9 percent at 3,450.68 (close) New York - Dow: UP 0.2 percent at 33,503.57 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.1888 from $1.1915 at 2050 GMT Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.3702 from $1.3735 Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.74 pence from 86.75 pence Dollar/yen: UP at 109.72 yen from 109.26 yen Brent North Sea crude: FLAT at $63.19 per barrel West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.2 percent at $59.69 per barrel dan-bcp/rfj/lth
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