European stocks lower on weak Chinese data

Marc Chandler submits:The US dollar is consolidating this week’s gains in choppy activity. Stronger than expected eurozone GDP (1.0% quarter-over-quarter) failed to lift the euro as much as one might have expected. It appears the market quickly realized this is as good as it gets. Heightened tensions remain evident in the European debt markets and this may also be helping to limit euro upticks.

Shares were mixed Friday, as weak Chinese and U.S. economic data cast a pall over early trading in Europe, but Asian markets rallied after North Korea's rocket launch failed.

World oil prices rose on Wednesday, before the latest US energy report, with traders on tenterhooks over the eurozone debt crisis and simmering tensions on the Korean peninsula, analysts said.Brent North Sea crude for delivery in January added 46 cents to 83.71 dollars a barrel in London morning trade.New York's main contract, light sweet crude for January, firmed 32 cents to 81.57 dollars.Prices fell on Tuesday amid a broader market sell-off as traders feared that a spike in tensions between North and South Korea could impact global trade.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean and U.S. troops began naval drills Monday in a show of force partly directed at North Korea amid signs that Pyongyang will soon follow through on a threat to conduct its third atomic test. The region has also seen a boost in diplomatic activity since last month, when North Korea announced it would conduct a nuclear test to protest U.N. Security Council sanctions toughened after a satellite launch in December that the U.S. and others say was a disguised test of banned missile technology.

SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea has been making brisk movements in its main underground nuclear test site, but has put up a cover over the entrance of a tunnel to foil U.S. intelligence efforts to determine whether a detonation there might be imminent, South Korean officials and media reported Friday.

North Korea vowed on Monday to strengthen its defences amid concerns the country may conduct a nuclear test as a follow-up to last month's long-range rocket launch. Citing US hostility, Pyongyang's foreign ministry said in a memorandum that North Korea will "continue to strengthen its deterrence against all forms of war".

Equitymaster submits: After what seemed like a strong start, the Indian markets steadily slipped lower during the rest of the day. They finally closed well below the dotted line. Energy, capital goods and banking stocks led the downward pressure on the indices. Gains on the other hand were seen in stocks from the realty, pharma and consumer durable spaces.