European stocks diverge as US reveals slowdown

LONDON: Europe's main stock markets closed mixed Wednesday, and the dollar slid, as data revealed a slump to US growth, while traders awaited the outcome of the Federal Reserve's latest meeting.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading companies added 0.15 per cent to end at 6,780.03 points.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.20 per cent to 9,603.23 points and in Paris the CAC 40 shed 0.23 per cent to 4,487.39.
US stock markets were trading lower after a report showed US economic growth slumped significantly in the first quarter.
The Commerce Department reported that gross domestic product (GDP) rose just 0.1 percent in the first quarter, well below the 1.0 percent rise projected by analysts.
"Some of the vast drop can be held responsible by the terrible weather the US had over the winter, but I don't think even the most battle-hardened pessimists were expecting it quite that low," said Capital Spreads dealer William Nicholls.
"Understandably the dollar has weakened heavily, and bond markets rose as anticipation of interest rate rises diminish."
Key elements to the low GDP figure were a downturn in exports and business investment and a slowdown in consumer spending.
However, the Federal Reserve has repeatedly said that bad winter weather in much of the US was partly to blame for the slowdown in the period.
The weak GDP figure was partly offset by a report by payrolls company ADP showing the private sector added 220,000 jobs in April, the best month since November.
In Paris, the battle for Alstom's prized energy business heated up, as the board of the French "national jewel" said it was in favour of an offer by US giant General Electric while Germany's Siemens upped its rival bid.
The US and German behemoths have been publicly vying for Alstom's energy assets for days in a politically sensitive battle over the French engineering group.
Alstom's share price soared 9.33 percent to 29.52 euros as trading resumed on Wednesday after a suspension.
Across in Frankfurt, Siemens' share price added 0.90 percent to 95 euros.
Separately, Siemens also revealed it was in talks with Rolls-Royce over a possible acquisition of the British firm's energy production arm.
In London, Rolls-Royce shares won 2.84 percent to stand at 1,050 pence.
Royal Dutch Shell jumped 3.66 percent to 2,520 pence as a shareholder dividend hike eclipsed news of slumping first-quarter profits.
Later on Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve will reveal the outcome of its latest policy meeting, with observers tipping a further cut in its multi-billion-dollar asset-purchase scheme despite the poor growth data.
Hong Kong shares sank 1.42 percent on Wednesday as investors braced for the Fed to announce more stimulus cuts.
On the upside, Tokyo gained 0.11 percent and Shanghai added 0.30 percent on the last day of a holiday-shortened week.
"Despite the spectre of the US Federal Reserve upping the pace of the tapering process later today, it's been a decidedly mixed session for Asian equities," noted Valutrades analyst Joao Monteiro.
In foreign exchange trading, the euro rallied to $1.3872 from $1.3811 late in New York on Tuesday.
The European single currency climbed to 82.14 British pence from 82.07 pence, while the pound advanced to $1.6880 from $1.6826 on Tuesday.
The price of gold fell to $1,288.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market, from $1,297.75 on Tuesday.