LONDON -- If you thought last week in Europe was one of turmoil, well, things haven't exactly calmed this week, and we've had a lot more volatility -- though some markets did gain a little.
Greek turmoil
The biggest news was Wednesday's meeting between EU heads, with rumors flying that France and Germany were at odds over the idea of eurobonds, that plans were afoot for Greece's exit from the euro, that there were no plans for Greece's exit from... well, you get the picture. The only certainty that came out of it was that nobody seems to know what's happening.
As a result, the Athens General Index
More Spanish banking panic
The Spanish banking crisis deepened, and trading in Bankia was suspended after claims emerged that it is planning to ask for a further 15bn euros ($19bn) in government cash, on top of last week's injection of 4.5bn euros. The stock ended Thursday on 1.57 euros, for a further 10% fall on the previous week's close.
Despite that, Spain's IBEX 35
Relief for the FTSE
In London, the FTSE 100
Randgold Resources perked up by nearly 7% to 5,110 pence -- is there a new rush for the shiny stuff under way? Other UK risers included Vodafone, up 4% to 172 pence on steady results, and chip designer ARM Holdings, which reversed some its recent slide, regaining 3% to 496 pence.
We even had shock news of a bank stock rise this week, with Royal Bank of Scotland, one of Britain's two government-owned banks, putting on a 2% gain to reach 21 pence.
But at the bottom end, Man Group's woes continued as lack of confidence in its hedge fund performance drove the stock down nearly 6% to 74 pence, and a number of miners carried on down on continuing fears of a Chinese slowdown.
Germany and France steady
Over in Germany, the DAX
Siemens managed a 4% rise to 68.58 euros, with Deutsche Post following with a 3% gain to 13.41 euros. Perhaps surprisingly, Deutsche Bank also put on 3% to 29.39 euros, but then, German banks are more prudently run than their Spanish (and British and U.S.) counterparts, it seems.
Meanwhile, the French CAC 40
Alcatel Lucent had another strong week, gaining 13% to 1.32 euros -- technology and telecommunications stocks did well in general in France.
The only big faller was Veolia Environnement, which lost 5% on the week to end on 9.59 euros. No other stock fell by more than 2%.
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