Drug stocks, fortified by hopes of bigger US sales, lifted European shares on Friday to end the week flat, though still near their best levels of the year.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index ended the day up 0.5 percent at 939.91 points, with more than two shares rising for each one falling.
The benchmark struggled to match this year's peak set last week as Wall Street trading was mixed, but is up 10.5 percent for the year after its hefty rally from a six-year nadir in March.
"The market is no longer as good value as it was. Although we have a lot of headwind behind it with economic data coming up nicely, we have had several months in a row of good performance and I would not be surprised to see a pause," said Richard Champion of Pavilion Asset Management.
Among the standouts, ING Groep fell 1.4 percent to 18.6 euros as the Dutch firm, Europe's number three insurer, offered cautious guidance after reporting a weaker than expected third-quarter net operating profit.
Italian bank Capitalia reported forecast-beating quarterly numbers, sending its shares higher.
Parmalat ended the week down 12 percent on concerns about the Italian food group's balance sheet, sinking further on Friday on news its finance director had resigned.
Autos lagged as new car sales in western Europe slipped last month, and a dip in US retail sales last month was blamed on weaker demand. Europe's biggest carmaker Volkswagen said it would cut investment over the next five years, and its stock eased a touch to 44.9 euros.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index, a benchmark of euro zone blue chips, closed up 0.8 percent at 2,656.9 points, while the FTSE 100 in London clocked up its best close since late August last year after hitting fresh yearly highs.
The construction sector benefited from signs of a European and Japanese economic recovery, hitting new highs for the year.
Glass maker Saint-Gobain rose three percent, while cement makers Lafarge, Holcim and Heidelbergercement all rose two percent or more.
"We are having a bit more rotation into what has underperformed, like some of the cyclicals. People are scouting around for what has not been involved in the rally," Champion said.
The DJ Stoxx health index hit yearly high on hopes reform of the US Medicare program for seniors would boost demand for prescription medicines in the world's biggest market.
"Investors are getting more confident that there will be a Medicare drug benefit passed in the near term," said Marc Booty, pharmaceuticals analyst at Commerzbank.
Pavilion Asset Management's Champion said it was too early to call a turn in the healthcare sector.
French drug firm Aventis SA rose 5.8 percent, while Britain's GlaxoSmithKline Plc tacked on 2.4 percent. Swiss Novartis AG rallied 3.7 percent, while Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca gained 2.8 percent.
The Eurotop 300 index is only some six points from its yearly high set a week ago, underpinned by third-quarter earnings, the best since the start of 2000, and further signs of recovery.
Eurostat data on Friday confirmed the euro zone economy grew at 0.4 percent in the third quarter, its fastest rate in a year, and should pick up even more steam in the next six months.
Data on Friday showed a strong improvement in the University of Michigan index of US consumer confidence, and a surprise rise in producer prices.
After investors pushed stocks to new highs, there remained nagging doubts about the rally's sustainability, said Anais Faraj, strategist at Nomura.
"We remain positive, though acknowledge the rough terrain," Faraj added.
JP Morgan investment bank said global growth was supporting European equities and, at this point in the economic cycle, equities usually outperform bonds as earnings grow while bond yields see little lift, thus reducing pressure on a stock's valuation multiple.
In New York, as bourses shut the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat at 9,846 points, while the NASDAQ Composite had shed 0.6 percent to 1,956 points.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure