New | Chinese ADRs mostly down in midday trading in the US amid flat closes in Europe

Markets in the United States briefly traded up on Wednesday over the first half of the morning sessions before continuing their sell-off from Tuesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.68 per cent to 16,218.76 points while the Nasdaq was off 0.37 per cent to 4,739.68 points. The S&P 500 Index was 0.47 per cent lower at  1,933.54 points.

After flattish economic data from France and less than dovish comments to Europe’s parliament by European Central Bank president Mario Draghi, the bloc’s bourses closed slightly higher.  

In Britain, the FTSE 100 was up 1.62 per cent to 6,032.24 points as France’s CAC rose 0.10 per cent to 4,432.83 points. In Germany, the DAX gained 0.44 per cent to 9,612.62 points.

The euro managed to claw back some lost ground on Wednesday, rising 0.42 per cent to US$1.1173 against the dollar. The pound was at a two-week low against the dollar, falling 0.69 per cent to US$1.5253.

The dollar was mostly down against other basket currencies on the Wind dollar index, which was 0.11 per cent lower at US$96.2419.