European stocks rallied to a stronger finish on Friday, led by automakers and technology stocks, though insurance giant Allianz declined after its results disappointed.
The German Xetra DAX 30 index ended up 1.5 percent at 5,090, France's CAC 40 index gained 1.3 percent to 4,536 and the UK's FTSE 100 index added 0.8 percent to 5,465.
German shares are being driven by corporate earnings, said Commerzbank European equity strategist Joelle Anamootoo, noting that some positive comments from utility E.On with its results on Thursday helped lift valuations.
She said momentum is expected to continue for the rest of the year as most companies have been positive on their guidance to investors.
Banking and insurance giant Allianz was the only decliner in the DAX index, closing down 0.9 percent after it said third-quarter net income rose 70 percent, reflecting strong growth in life insurance and asset management and a 753 million euro (US$885.7 million) charge from the recent hurricanes in the US and floods in Europe.
DaimlerChrysler, which said it was selling its remaining stake in Mitsubishi Motors, ended up 1.6 percent.
Volkswagen ended up 1.9 percent in Frankfurt after saying it's still targeting a pretax profit of 5.1 billion euros in 2008. VW also said a probe by auditor KPMG into a bribery and kickback scandal has uncovered a 5 million euro drain on the company's finances.
Technology stocks such as STMicroelectronics and Nokia also were among advancers.
STMicro closed up 3.4 percent in Paris after Merrill Lynch upgraded it to buy. Merrill said substantial margin expansion for the European chipmaker over the next two years will continue to support shares.
Most European airline stocks gained ground on weaker crude oil prices, though Italian flag carrier Alitalia dived 11 percent after it said it will issue shares to raise 1 billion euros and spin off its ground services into a new unit by selling a stake to state-owned Fintecna.
The Independent newspaper reported that the unit will be hived off into the joint venture with Fortis' investment arm, though the report discounted rumors Scottish Widows will be sold off altogether.
Telefonica SA, the Spanish telecom giant that recently bid ?17.7 billion (US$31.4 billion) for UK mobile operator O2, dipped 1.3 percent in Madrid, continuing a slide that started when the deal was first announced.
The drop continued despite news that it was lifting revenue guidance for this year after nine-month profit rose 36 percent and revenue grew 24 percent.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day