LONDON: European stock markets rose yesterday but the euro slipped against the dollar as investors took heart from upbeat Chinese and US economic data and EU leaders agreed on a seven-year budget for the 27-member union.
London’s FTSE 100 index of top companies gained 0.57 percent to close at 6,263.93 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX was 0.81 percent higher at 7,652.14 and the CAC 40 jumped by 1.35 percent to 3,649.50 points in Paris. British banking stocks led the way, with Barclays gaining 2.09 percent to 298.6 pence and HSBC up by 2.33 percent to 716.7 pence.
In foreign exchange trading, the European single currency slipped to $1.3373 from $1.3395 late on Thursday in New York.
Gold prices stood at $1,668.25 an ounce yesterday, unchanged from $1,668 on Thursday on the London Bullion Market.
On Wall Street, US stocks climbed in midday trading owing to an unexpected drop in the US trade deficit and the strong Chinese trade data, dealers said. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.33 percent, the S&P 500 index rose 0.51 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.89 percent.
On sovereign debt markets, pressure eased on Italian and Spanish borrowing costs, with Italian 10-year debt trading at 4.555 percent, compared with 4.584 percent on Thursday. Spanish 10-year bonds changed hands at 5.365 percent, down from 5.418 percent on Thursday.
Asian stock markets rose, but Tokyo was hit by a stronger yen and data that showed Japan had suffered its lowest current account surplus in nearly 30 years. AFP
