World stocks mixed amid Spanish bailout clouds

World stock markets were mixed and the euro steadied on Tuesday as investors kept a cautious eye on developments in Spain after initial enthusiasm over the country’s massive bank bailout faded badly. European indices rose slightly in morning deals, while Asian stock markets mostly closed lower after losses on Wall Street overnight as investors looked past the headlines and noted the impact of the deal on Spain’s debt burden. Spanish 10-year government bonds yields — the rate of return earned by investors — rose to 6.590 percent from 6.487 percent, indicating nervousness among traders. Any yield above 6.0 percent is widely judged to be unsustainable over the longer-term and shows the market is increasingly skeptical that the bank bailout accord with the EU can resolve Spain’s problems. “Despite Spain’s banks being better off to the tune of 100 billion euros, yields on Spanish government debt have surged above the danger level as traders interpret this as an escalation of the debt crisis and not as a preventative measure that policy makers had tried to spin things,” said Jonathan Sudaria, a dealer at London Capital Group. In mid-morning deals, London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies climbed 0.13 percent to 5,439.27 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.25 percent to 6,156.41 points and in Paris the CAC 40 rose 0.39 percent to 3,054.60. Madrid’s IBEX 35 index edged down 0.04 percent to 6,513.90 points in choppy trade while Milan was off 0.13 percent. In foreign exchange deals on Tuesday, the euro stood at $1.2481, virtually unchanged from $1.2482 in New York late Monday. Stocks had soared Monday on the Spanish bank rescue accord but the sharp gains were lost as borrowing costs for Madrid and Rome rose sharply, reflecting investor unease at the bailout’s potential impact on their public finances. “Concerns that the Spanish bailout creates more questions than answers, weighs on risk assets and ahead of Greek and French elections on Sunday, there is fresh uncertainty for markets,” said VTB Capital analyst Neil MacKinnon “Our expectation is of further gradual euro slippage and modest downward pressure on US bond yields as ‘flight to safety’ themes remain intact,” he said in a note to clients. Investors were looking to the weekend when Greece holds its second polls in less than six weeks amid fears that a victory for anti-austerity groups could lead to Athens making a disorderly exit from the euro. In France, President Francois Hollande’s Socialists and their allies were on track to win a strong parliamentary majority after a first-round election that cemented a swing to the left. The optimism over the $125 billion Spanish bailout deal struck at the weekend was being replaced by concerns about the practicalities of the rescue and fears that it would not avert a broader eurozone catastrophe. Asian stock markets closed mostly lower on Tuesday following losses on Wall Street. Tokyo finished down 1.02 percent but Sydney rose 0.23 percent as it caught up with regional gains on Monday’s when it was closed for a holiday. On Wall Street, an early rally fueled by Spain’s bailout fizzled out to leave the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.14 percent. The broad-market S&P 500 fell 1.26 percent and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite lost 1.70 percent. The downturn also reflected some profit-taking after US equity markets scored their best week of the year last week.