Print

Mail

wiki links

European markets advance, paced by carmakers, mining

European stocks advanced, paced by automakers and mining companies, two of the region's worst-performing industry groups in April. Volkswagen AG and BHP Billiton climbed.

"Share prices aren't expensive considering the outlook," said Jerome Forneris, a fund manager at Banque Martin Maurel in Marseille, which manages about US$6.5 billion in assets. "We can start buying."

Benchmarks pared gains after the University of Michigan said its final reading of consumer confidence in April was 87.7, less than the 88.8 economists expected in a Bloomberg poll.

They earlier rose on a government report that showed US personal spending rose more than expected in March and incomes grew.

The Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index rose 0.2 percent to 256.06. The STOXX 50 also added 0.2 percent while the Euro STOXX 50, a measure for the 12 nations using the euro, decreased less than 0.1 percent.

Nonetheless, the STOXX 600 and STOXX 50 indexes lost 2.3 percent and 1.7 percent respectively, last month, their worst monthly performances in a year, amid concern economic and corporate profit growth is slowing. The Euro STOXX 50 posted its steepest drop in 19 months.

Reports on Friday showed business confidence in the dozen nations sharing the euro fell to a 19-month low this month while the unemployment rate in France rose to the highest in more than five years in March.

The STOXX 600's Basic-Resources Indexes led the advance on the broader benchmark on Friday, adding 1.5 percent.

Benchmark indexes increased in 11 of the 17 Western European markets.

The UK's FTSE 100 Index rose 0.2 percent while France's CAC 40 Index added less than 0.1 percent. Germany's DAX benchmark gained 0.2 percent.

Friday's gains for basic resources trimmed their group's losses on the STOXX 600 in April to 6.7 percent.

Volkswagen, Europe's largest automaker, added 1.1 percent to 32.24 euros (US$41.66) while DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's fifth-largest carmaker, gained 0.4 percent to 30.35 euros. Both companies have reported first-quarter results.

"There's some relief now that quarterly reports are over" at DaimlerChrysler and Volkswagen, said Arndt Ellinghorst, an analyst at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. "Stocks have suffered over the past few days and now investors realize that another decline is not necessary."
This story has been viewed 1501 times.