LONDON -- Chinese stocks led global markets lower Friday after plans were announced to sharply limit new vehicle registrations in traffic-congested Beijing, while the latest downgrade of Portugal's credit rating kept sentiment in check in European markets. Trading generally was light with many markets, including Wall Street, closed for Christmas. In Europe, France's CAC-40 closed down 0.3 percent to 3,900.39, while Britain's FTSE 100 ended up 0.2 percent at 6,008.92, its first close above the 6,000 mark since the summer of 2008. Both markets were only open for half the day while those in Germany and many other places in Europe were closed. A downgrade late Thursday of Portugal's credit rating from Fitch Ratings weighed on the markets. Fitch reduced its rating on the country's debt by one notch to A+ from AA- and warned that further downgrades may be in the offing. The agency said it was getting increasingly worried over Portugal's ability to raise money in the markets to finance its hefty borrowings. Portugal is widely considered to be the country most at risk in the 16-nation eurozone of needing financial help from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund - Greece and Ireland have already suffered the ignominy of being bailed out.

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