LONDON: European stock markets rebounded while the euro slid against the dollar yesterday as traders welcomed improving economic fortunes in Germany and looked ahead to weekend elections in indebted eurozone nation Italy.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading companies added 0.70 percent to close at 6,335.7 points, while Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 1.03 percent to 7,661.91 points, and in Paris the CAC 40 jumped 2.25 percent to 3,706.28 points. Milan advanced 1.40 percent to 16,233 points.
Equities had fallen on Thursday over concern about a possible end to US stimulus measures and slumping business activity across the eurozone. “European equities managed to reverse losses and are rallying nicely now,” said Gekko Global Markets trader Anita Paluch.
A contraction in the German economy at the end of last year was a hiccup, analysts said yesterday, as data showed business confidence in Europe’s economic powerhouse soaring this year.
The federal statistics office Destatis confirmed an earlier estimate that German gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.6 percent in the final quarter of 2012, weighed down by a 2.0-percent slump in exports.
Nevertheless, a whole range of experts — from analysts to economic think tanks, the government and even the Bundesbank — are convinced that the dip in growth will prove only temporary and GDP will start growing again as early as the first quarter of 2013.
Economic sentiment in Germany could hardly be better. Earlier this week, the key ZEW barometer of investor confidence rose to levels last seen before the start of the three-year-old debt crisis.
And yesterday, the even more closely watched Ifo business climate index notched up its strongest gain in two and a half years to hit its highest level since April 2012. “The German economy is regaining momentum,” said Ifo President Hans-Werner Sinn as his institute’s index jumped by 3.1 points to 107.4 points in February.
But the eurozone as a whole faces another full year of recession in 2013, as millions more people living across the region become unemployed, the European Commission said yesterday.
Italy was meanwhile poised to hold its most important elections in a generation starting tomorrow, as financial markets warned an unclear outcome could plunge the eurozone’s third economy back into crisis. Italians will cast their ballots as they grapple with the longest recession in two decades and several rounds of austerity cuts. The most likely outcome is a centre-left government led by Democratic Party leader Pier Luigi Bersani.
The European single currency drifted down to $1.3165 from $1.3188 late in New York on Thursday. The dollar rose to 93.37 yen from 93.11 yen.
Gold prices edged down to $1,576.50 an ounce on the London Bullion Market from $1,577 on Thursday, when the precious metal also struck a seven-month low point of $1,555.55.
US stocks moved higher, boosted by the bullish report on German business sentiment as well as solid earnings results from computer company Hewlett-Packard.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.45 percent to 13,942.60 points in midday trading. The broad-based S&P 500 advanced 0.46 percent to 1,509.36 points, while the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.47 percent to 3,146.35 points.
Asian markets were mixed. Tokyo ended up 0.68 percent, Sydney jumped 0.76 percent, and Seoul added 0.18 percent. Shanghai ended down 0.51 percent and Hong Kong lost 0.54 percent. AFP
