Asian markets bounced on Friday, following Thursday’s slide. The Nikkei edged up .3% to 9110, the Kospi climbed .6% to 2002, and the ASX 200 rose .3% to 4408. The Hang Seng advanced .7% to 20735, and the Shanghai Composite inched up .1% to 2027.
Speculation of an imminent Spanish bailout lifted European banks 1.7%, and Spain’s IBEX 35 index surged 2.6%. The DAX climbed .8% to 7452, the CAC40 gained .6% to 3531, while the FTSE settled flat.
US stocks settled little changed as early gains evaporated. The Dow eased 17 points to 13579, the S&P 500 ended flat, while the Nasdaq ticked up .1% to 3180.
Research in Motion shares tanked 6.5% after service outages plagued customers across Europe and the Middle East.
Currencies
Global currencies rose modestly against the dollar. The Australian dollar gained .3%, the Pound rose .2%, and the yen edged up .1%. The euro and Swiss franc inched up fractionally.
Economic Outlook
No major economic reports are due on Monday.