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Europe crawls to flat finish
LONDON, England (CNN) -- European markets ended mainly flat on Tuesday after an abbreviated trading day ahead of the holiday break, with the only real movement coming from oil and retail stocks. Most European stock markets were closed, apart from the region's biggest bourse, London, which finished at 1230 GMT, and the Euronext market for Dutch, French and Belgian shares closed at 1300 GMT. U.S. markets were also set to finish early at 1400 ET (1900 GMT) on Tuesday. London's FTSE 100 closed up 0.1 percent at 3,942.1 and the CAC 40 in Paris slipped 0.2 percent to 3,081.28. The AEX in Amsterdam fell 0.7 percent to 327.36. Frankfurt's electronically traded Xetra Dax, Milan's MIB 30 and the SMI in Zurich were closed on Christmas Eve. The pan-European FTSE Eurotop 300, a broader index of the region's largest stocks, was little changed at 869.93, with oil and gas sub-sectors leading gains. "If you trade today you won't be able to settle until New Year's Eve, so there was a lot of pressure not to even trade, a senior trader told Reuters. Oil stocks attracted most of the attention on Tuesday as continued concerns about a war with Iraq kept crude futures prices near the top-end of recent peaks. Brent Crude for February delivery slipped from its session highs, trading down 11 cents to $29.60 a barrel in London. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld warned North Korea against seizing on the U.S. focus on Iraq to press a nuclear weapons programme and said Washington could fight and win two wars at once. (Full story) Strikes continued to choke off supplies from the world's fifth-biggest producer Venezuela, providing more upward pressure on oil and stock prices. Shell Transport & Trading (SHEL) climbed 1.9 percent to 395 pence in London and Royal Dutch Shell gained 1.7 percent to 43.80 euros in Amsterdam. BP (BP), Europe's second-biggest oil company, added 0.7 percent to 435 pence. The retail sector was hit by concerns over weak sales in the last weekend before Christmas. (Full story) The UK's GUS (GUS) lost 1 percent to 566.50 pence and Marks &Spencer (MKS) fell 2.2 percent to 310 pence, while French retailer Carrefour (PCA) declined 1.8 percent to 40.86 euros. European markets will be closed on Wednesday and Thursday for Christmas Day and Boxing Day holidays.
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