European stocks mixed, euro pushes higher

European stock markets were mixed while the euro hit a 20-month high against the yen on Monday as traders mulled falling eurozone industrial output while waiting for 2012 earnings reports from US companies. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies slid 0.21 percent to 6,108.56 points in afternoon trade. Frankfurt's DAX 30 was flat at 7,716.59 points and in Paris the CAC 40 nudged up 0.05 percent to 3,707.88. In foreign exchange deals, the European single currency climbed to $1.3355 from $1.3341 late in New York on Friday. In Asian trading it reached $1.3404 at one point, a 10-month high. The yen meanwhile continued to fall after Japan's new leaders last week unveiled a stimulus package worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The euro hit 120.13 yen on Monday, which was the highest level since May 2011. It later stood at 119.20, up from 119.00 late on Friday. Europe's single currency made further gains also after upbeat comments last week by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi. But in a reminder that all was not well for the eurozone, official data published on Monday showed industrial output in the 17-nation eurozone fell 0.3 percent in November compared with output in October. Elsewhere, on the London Bullion Market, the price of gold increased to $1,667.75 an ounce from $1,657.50 on Friday. On the corporate front, shares in Swatch Group jumped 3.4 percent to 509.00 Swiss francs after the world's leading watchmaker said it would acquire US jeweller and watchmaker Harry Winston for up to $1.0 billion (750 million euros). In Frankfurt, Continental shares skidded 0.95 percent to 84.25 euros despite the German maker of automotive parts and tyres announcing that it had beaten its sales targets in 2012, as it warned it would not be able to keep up the pace this year. Sales in 2012 came to 32.7 billion euros ($43.7 billion), a rise of 7.0 percent from the level in 2011, the firm said, publishing initial figures for its last fiscal year. However, the company cautioned that it would not be able to keep up the pace of expansion during 2013 given a slumping auto market. In Paris EADS, parent of European planemaker Airbus, was down 0.9 percent to 32.01 euros, despite Citilink, the low-cost branch of Indonesian airline Garuda, ordering 25 Airbus A320neo airliners with a catalogue value of $2.4 billion. In 2011, Garuda ordered 15 of the A320neo aircraft, the new low-fuel-consumption version of the A320 much used by low-cost operators, due to enter into service in 2015. US stocks opened mixed ahead of a heavy week of earnings releases, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.03 percent to 13,492.65 points. The broad-based S&P 500 lost 0.05 percent to 1,471.32 points, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.18 percent to 3,119.90 points. Asian stock markets mostly closed higher on Monday, led by a surge on the Shanghai index after the securities regulator raised hopes for increased foreign investment in China's stock market, traders said.