Early morning Beijing time, June 14: On Thursday, the European stock market continued its consecutive declines from previous trading days. However, positive US economic data helped some regional indices narrow their losses after midday, and even enter the rise range. Major regional indices showed mixed results, and the European stock index fell slightly by 0.06% throughout the day's trading.
Regarding US economic data, retail sales in May saw a year-on-year increase of 0.6%; the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time last week decreased by 12,000 to 334,000. Two sets of data that were better than market expectations drove major US stock indices to rise.
Among major regional indices, the UK FTSE 100 Index rose 0.08% on Thursday, closing at 6304.63 points. Public utility enterprise Centrica Group announced the purchase of a 25% stake in a shale gas project, becoming the first major British enterprise to enter this field, and its stock price rose 1.03%. In the mining sector, Rio Tinto rose 2.58%, BHP Billiton rose 1.76%, and Royal Bank of Scotland announced late Wednesday that CEO Stephen Hester would resign within the year; the company's stock price fell 3.26% on Thursday.
