IST, AGENCIES

LONDON: Europe's main stock markets closed mixed on Thursday, with trading on Wall Street providing little direction as investors digested more downbeat economics news and uncertainty about the US car makers. London's FTSE 100 index finished up 0.15 per cent at 4,330.66 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 ended 0.24 per cent lower at 3,234.15 points and the Frankfurt Dax gained 1.02 per cent to close at 4,756.40 points.

The EuroStoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares gained 0.33 per cent in value to stand at 2,452.42 points.

The European single currency stood at 1.4234 dollars, after nearing a three-month high point of 1.4719.

Macro data from the eurozone's largest economy, Germany, reminded investors that the outlook for Europe and the rest of the world is poor.

German business sentiment plunged for the seventh straight month to a record low of 82.6 points in December, according to the key Ifo index published on Thursday.

The monthly business climate index calculated by the Munich-based economic research institute fell from 85.8 points in the previous month.

The previous all-time low of 84.8 points had been set during a recession in February 1993, two years after Ifo began compiling the German index.

"The strengthening of the euro and the nosedive in foreign orders from within and outside the euro zone continue to pose a tremendous challenge for the German export-led economy," said Kenneth Broux, economist at Lloyds TSB.

In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted up 0.18 per cent to 8,840.27 at 1545 GMT in choppy trade and the tech-dominant Nasdaq was up 0.32 per cent to 1,584.32.

The Standard & Poor's 500 broad-market index added 0.41 per cent to 908.17.