European stock markets closed higher on Friday, lifted by tech strength and deal news. The German DAX 30 index closed up 0.5 percent at 5,044, the French CAC 40 gained 0.5 percent at 4,600, while the UK's FTSE 100 index closed steady at 5,477, just shy of key resistance at 5,500.
The pan-European Dow Jones STOXX 600 added 0.2 percent at 296.93. The index is up about 7.6 percent from its June 30 close.
"We've seen an outstanding performance by the FTSE, the DAX and the CAC during the month of September, which is notoriously not a very good month," said David Buik of Cantor Index.
Paul Niven, head of strategy at F&C Asset Management, noted that cost-cutting drives at European companies have helped push up profit despite anemic economic growth on the continent and the deadlocked election in Germany.
"The extent of corporate earnings growth despite the domestic situation has been very encouraging for investors, and to some extent explains why investors have put aside concerns over the election so readily," he said.
Takeover speculation continued to swirl around the UK's Aegis, France's Thales and Holland's TNT, while UBS, Kazakh oil and gas producer Nelson Resources, Cablecom, Tesco and Carrefour all confirmed deals.
Semiconductor stocks were sharply higher, getting a boost from a Micron Technology, which reported earnings Thursday and turned a surprise quarterly profit.
ASML closed up 1.4 percent in Dutch trading, while STMicroelectronics gained 3.3 percent and Infineon added 2.5 percent.
Thales shares added 1.8 percent after a report that the long-rumored tie-up between the defense firm and state-owned shipyard DCN is expected within weeks, according to comments French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie made to La Tribune.
Shares of TNT NV added 2.9 percent in Amsterdam after a report in Die Welt said that United Parcel Service Inc is interested in buying European postal-letter delivery companies, citing company Chief Executive Michael Eskew.
The report said UPS is considering buying TNT, citing board member Kurt Kuehn.
London AIM-listed Nelson Resources Ltd sank 8.6 percent after saying it has entered into talks with Russia's Lukoil to be bought for US$2 billion in cash, or C$2.57 a share.
The oil exploration and production company, with operations in the Republic of Kazakhstan, said it would review the proposal. Both parties have agreed to negotiate definitive agreements by Oct. 12.
Earlier this week, Russian gas group Gazprom agreed to buy Russian oil group Sibneft for US$13.1 billion.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been
GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓), the world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier, yesterday said that revenue would rise moderately in the second half of this year, driven primarily by robust demand for advanced wafers used in high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, a key component of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. “The first quarter is the lowest point of this cycle. The second half will be better than the first for the whole semiconductor industry and for GlobalWafers,” chairwoman Doris Hsu (徐秀蘭) said during an online investors’ conference. “HBM would definitely be the key growth driver in the second half,” Hsu said. “That is our big hope
The consumer price index (CPI) last month eased to 1.95 percent, below the central bank’s 2 percent target, as food and entertainment cost increases decelerated, helped by stable egg prices, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) said yesterday. The slowdown bucked predictions by policymakers and academics that inflationary pressures would build up following double-digit electricity rate hikes on April 1. “The latest CPI data came after the cost of eating out and rent grew moderately amid mixed international raw material prices,” DGBAS official Tsao Chih-hung (曹志弘) told a news conference in Taipei. The central bank in March raised interest rates by