STOCK MARKET WATCH -- 9 August 2012

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18. CHINESE STIMULUS HOPES FAIL TO STIR MARKETS

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/W/WORLD_MARKETS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-08-09-06-20-19

Financial markets were lackluster on Thursday - the fifth anniversary of the start of the global credit crisis - despite hopes that China's monetary authorities will do more to shore up economic growth in the world's second largest economy.

With inflation in China falling to 1.8 percent in July from the previous month's 2.2 percent, expectations are rising that Beijing may ease monetary policy to boost economic growth, which has slowed sharply this year. Separate figures on industrial production and retail sales confirmed the slowdown.

"The Chinese data release that many traders were waiting for overnight may be pointing towards a slowdown but there's seemingly little to suggest this has taken anyone by surprise," said Mike McCudden, head of derivatives at Interactive Investor.

In Europe, Germany's DAX was down 0.2 percent at 6,955 while the CAC-40 in France rose 0.1 percent to 3,441. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 5,847.