Europe's stock markets bolted ahead on Friday, spurred on by a tame report on US core inflation and in spite of a decline in US industrial production.
The London FTSE 100 index rose 0.19 percent to close at 5,275, while in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.27 percent to end the week at 4,482.13. In Frankfurt, the DAX took on 0.51 percent to finish at 4,975.56.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares gained 0.55 percent to reach 3,349.58.
In London, gambling and leisure operator Hilton Group surged 13.37 percent to 345.50 pence after announcing that it had received an offer for its hotels arm from Hilton Hotels Corporation, the US group from which it split back in 1964.
Broadcaster BSkyB added 2.19 percent to reach 535.50 pence as investors welcomed its possible entry into the high-speed Internet market through the acquisition of OneTel, which has been put up for sale.
Oil giant BG Group fell 2.52 percent to 484 pence as crude prices declined.
In Paris, another oil group, Total, fell 2.85 percent to 204.50 euros. Drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis rose 1.40 percent to 68.65 euros after getting European approval for its anti-diabetes medicine, Exubera.
STMicroelectronics gained 2.41 percent to close at 14.03 euros, taking advantage of positive comments from Goldman Sachs on sales prospects for its leading client, Finnish mobile phone supplier Nokia.
In Frankfurt, semi-conductor group Infineon climbed 1.62 percent to 8.16 euros on reports that South Korean electronics manufacturer Samsung was expecting a sharp hike in fourth-quarter demand.
Elsewhere there were gains of 0.59 percent to 10,629.3 on the Ibex-35 in Madrid, 0.04 percent to 6,871.17 on the Swiss Market Index, 0.75 percent to 394.31 on the AEX in Amsterdam, 0.27 percent on the Bel 20 in Brussels and 0.45 percent to 33,214 on the SP/Mib in Milan.
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