Global stocks pressured

European and Wall Street stocks were under pressure Friday as soft data from the US, China and the eurozone prompted mild profit-taking.

Frankfurt and Paris both dipped, though the French index remained above the key 4,500 level by a whisker. 

London's FTSE index was essentially flat.

Trade in the US was also muted, with both the Dow and S&P 500 retreating from records struck Thursday. However, the tech-rich Nasdaq edged higher, scoring a second straight record.

"The stock market may be at record highs, yet it doesn't look as if too many money managers really love this stock market," said Briefing.com Patrick O'Hare.

O'Hare described the reticence as an acknowledgement that high equity valuations are the result of aggressive stimulus measures by central banks due to weak growth.

More evidence of that weakness was apparent Friday.

Retail sales in China rose 10.2 percent year-on-year in July, a sharp slowdown from the 10.6 percent increase in June and below the median forecast of a 10.5 percent rise in a Bloomberg News poll of economists.

That lackluster result was accompanied by reports on Chinese industrial output and fixed asset investment that also missed expectations. 

The Chinese figures represent an "across-the-board slowdown," said Zhao Yang of Nomura.

"Overall, we think growth momentum continued to lose steam," he added.

- Sluggish growth -

Growth in the 19-nation eurozone came in at 0.3 percent, slowing from 0.6 percent in the three months to January but unchanged from the initial estimate given last month.

The data "highlight concerns about France and Italy," analysts at Capital Economics said, and "showed a strong contrast between the eurozone's best and worst performers. But the big picture was that growth across the region is slowing."

An exception was Germany, which expanded by 0.4 percent in adjusted terms between April and June, twice as much as forecast by analysts surveyed by Factset.

In the US, July retail sales cames in at $457.7 billion, the same as the previous month, suggesting a key driver of the world's largest economy had plateaued by mid-summer.

US producer prices for the same month fell 0.4 percent, another indication of sluggish activity.

Analysts said the anemic figures could quash talk of a Federal Reserve hike of interest rates.

"The consumer paused in July and, with price pressures soft, the Fed members will probably gain a few more gray hairs," said Joel Naroff of Naroff Economic Advisors.

An exception to Friday's anemic performance in equity markets was Japan's Nikkei, which gained 1.1 percent, largely due to positive momentum from Thursday's records set in the US.

However, analysts were girding for weak data from Japan, which is scheduled to report second-quarter growth figures on Monday.  

Tokyo this month promised a 28-trillion yen ($246 billion) economic stimulus package, marking its latest attempt to stimulate lackluster growth.

- Key figures at around 2100 GMT -

New York - DOW: DOWN 0.2 percent at 18,576.47 (close)

New York - S&P 500: DOWN 0.1 percent at 2,184.05 (close)

New York - Nasdaq: UP 0.1 percent at 5,232.89 (close)

London - FTSE 100: UP less than 0.1 percent at 6,916.02 points (close)

Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 0.3 percent at 10,713.43 (close)

Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 0.1 percent at 4,500.19 (close)

EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 0.1 percent at 3,044.94 (close)

Tokyo - Nikkei 225: UP 1.1 percent at 16,919.92 (close)

Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.6 percent at 3,050.67 (close)

Hong Kong - Hang Seng: UP 0.8 percent at 22,766.91 (close)

Euro/dollar: UP at $1.1165 from $1.1138 Thursday

Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2918 from $1.2955

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 101.14 yen from 101.95 yen

Source: AFP