World Markets Mixed in Quiet Trading

Major stock markets around the world settled mixed in relatively light trading Monday.

Markets in the United States were closed for the Labor Day holiday.

“With New York closed, we’ve had little activity,” one trader in Madrid said.

In London, the Financial Times-stock exchange index of 100 leading shares rose 10 points to close at 2372.2. But stock prices were off the day’s peaks as currency concerns continued to trouble investors. The market drew some support from the a pledge by Germany’s Bundesbank over the weekend not to increase interest rates there, at least for the time being.

High interest rates in Germany have attracted investors, who have been snapping up German marks in order to buy fixed-income securities. A huge gap between high German interest rates and low U.S. interest rates has driven the dollar to all-time lows against the mark and put other European currencies under pressure.

Elsewhere in Europe, shares were brought off early highs in Frankfurt by worries about squabbles in the Bonn coalition government over financing economic recovery in the former East Germany. The 30-share DAX index ended 4.13 points up at 1,540.63.

Stocks finished marginally higher in Paris in a session dominated by professional dealers and a paucity of corporate news.

In Zurich, prices moved higher in quiet trading. Stocks settled slightly lower in Amsterdam, mixed in Brussels, and they fell across the board in Milan.

Earlier in Asian trading, prices on the Tokyo stock exchange finished lower.

The 225-issue Nikkei stock average fell 115.12 points, or 0.62%, closing at 18,440.18 points. Volume on the first section was estimated at 380 million shares, down sharply from 754.04 million shares Friday.

Trading in Mexican stocks Monday was the slowest so far this year, with the market ending off 7.36 points, or 0.5%, to 1,385.28. Volume was a slight 14.7 million shares.

Traders in Mexico said the slack pace was mostly because of the Labor Day holiday in the United States.