LONDON, Jan 5: World stock markets were mixed on Monday, with moderate gains in Europe contrasting with falls in the United States as investors focused on president-elect Barack Obama’s economic stimulus plans.

London’s FTSE 100 index rose 0.39 per cent to 4,579.64 points, the CAC 40 index in Paris rose 0.31 per cent to 3,359.92 points, while the Frankfurt Dax gained 0.22 per cent to 4,983.99 points.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.46 per cent to 8,992.72 at 1619 GMT and the tech-studded Nasdaq fell 0.39 per cent to 1,625.84.

The broad-market Standard & Poor’s 500 index retreated 0.13 per cent to 930.59.

“A sense of pessimism, coupled with profit taking following last week’s rally, is dragging stocks lower on moderate volume as traders return en masse from the holiday,” said analysts at Charles Schwab & Co.

US stocks on Friday staged a huge rally in the first trading session of 2009 as investors turned the page on a horrific 2008.

—AFP