Merger speculation in the drug and banking sectors and a weaker euro which boosted exporters inspired European equities to close at fresh 16-month highs on Friday, while earnings optimism reinforced technology stocks.
But staffing agency Adecco tumbled 11.5 percent after its finance chief quit as the company revealed widespread accounting flaws in its North American business and refused to detail the scale of the damage.
Italian Internet service provider Tiscali was suspended after falling more than 10 percent in the afternoon amid trader talk of balance sheet concerns. Tiscali denied any problems with certification of its 2003 accounts.
The FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue chips ended 1.02 percent higher at 990.33 points, the highest close since August 2002 and up more than two percent this year.
"Corporate earnings are better and compared to Wall Street Europe looks relatively inexpensive," said Mike Lenhoff, chief strategist at Brewin Dolphin Securities.
"The dollar rebound relieves some of the pressure on European exporters ... But currency markets won't stop the global economic expansion and demand is getting stronger," he said.
The euro's near 4 percent drop from lifetime highs of just below US$1.29 seen on Monday created demand for dollar-earning exporters like auto makers because a weaker euro lowers the cost of their cars in the US.
The DJ European autos index Autos, up 2.8 percent was the best-performing sector with Germany's DaimlerChrysler up 5 percent, while Volkswagen rose 2.5 percent.
Amid good volumes the number of gainers to losers in the FTSE Eurotop was around three to one.
The narrower DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index picked up 0.89 percent to 2,865.97 points.
Autos and talk of a merger between Germany's Commerzbank and HVB Group, later dismissed by the banks, helped the Frankfurt DAX up 1 percent to 4,111.64 points.
Commerzbank was up a touch, but HVB jumped 4.2 percent.
London's benchmark FTSE rose 0.71 percent to 4,487.9 points and the Swiss SMI was up 1.13 percent at 5,694.5.
Paris's CAC climbed 1.24 percent to 3,671.80 amid speculation of a merger between the France's first and second largest drug makers Aventis and Sanofi-Synthelabo, which denied negotiations.
Aventis was up 1.6 percent and Sanofi gained 3.6 percent.
Cosmetics giant L'Oreal, with a large exposure to the US and which jointly owns 44 percent of Sanofi with oil major Total, was a major blue-chip winner with gains of 3.2 percent.
Shares in German drugmakers Altana rose 2.9 percent and Schering jumped 4.8 percent as talk of French merger activity within the industry sparked takeover speculation in Germany.
Elsewhere sales and profits from US telecoms networking group Juniper topped estimates and were among those that sent Alcatel up 4.1 percent.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last