Cautious investors prompt early falls

INVESTORS exercised caution yesterday ahead of a slew of quarterly results announcements from US companies next week, resulting in early falls in the main American markets and slow movement across Europe.

Each of the main European markets inched higher – the FTSE in London adding 0.5% to 5,133 points; Paris’ CAC posting the same percentage gain to 3,554; and Germany’s DAX adding just enough to breach the 6,000 point mark.

By early evening both the Dow Jones and Nasdaq exchanges on Wall Street had reversed their earlier slips and had begun to creep upwards, as outlook concerning next week’s US results brightened slightly.