Ukraine currency rebounds from record low

LONDON, Mar 1 (AFP): Ukraine's hryvnia currency rebounded on Friday from record dollar lows after Kiev reached out to the IMF for emergency aid amid simmering international tensions.
The Ukrainian crisis weighed on many European stock markets, which were balancing its impact against data generally showing encouraging signs of economic growth. London's benchmark FTSE 100 stocks hovered 0.01 percent lower at 6,809.53 points mid-session.
Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 1.13 per cent to 9,613.29 points and the Paris CAC 40 dipped 0.21 per cent to 4,387.32 points.
Wall Street opened little changed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipping 0.03 per cent five minutes into trading to 16,267,48 points. The broad-based S&P 500 added 0.05 per cent at 1,855.30, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.13 per cent to 4,324.66.
The Commerce Depart-ment lowered its estimate of fourth-quarter US economic growth to an annualised rate of 2.4 per cent, revising its initial estimate of a 3.2 per cent GDP expansion.