European stock markets mostly down amid mixed US earnings results

LONDON: European stock markets mostly sunk on Thursday as investors digested one of the busiest days of the US corporate earnings season, while oil prices edged back after flirting with six-month highs.

On the good side of the ledger were Microsoft - which became just the third tech giant to reach the trillion-dollar value mark - and Facebook, with the two titans bolstering the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index.However European markets closed solidly in the red after the collapse of two mega-mergers in the supermarket and banking industries.And oil prices neared six-month highs amid supply concerns stoked by the US tightening the screws on sanctions-hit Iran.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in June jumped to US$75.60 per barrel, the highest level since the end of October, before falling back. European stock markets closed solidly down, with shares in Deutsche Bank down 2.1 per cent and Commerzbank dropping 2.4 per cent after Germany's two biggest lenders ended merger talks.

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