European stock exchanges edged higher on Friday on better than expected US job creation figures for last month.
The London FTSE 100 index added 0.34 percent to close at 6,152.40 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 index rose by a slight 0.09 percent to 5,384.16. The Frankfurt DAX rose 0.22 percent to 6,427.41.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares inched up 0.03 percent to 4,019.89.
On the currency market the euro briefly rose back above US$1.33 amid talk that Russia was buying euros, before slipping lower after US Secretary of tthe Treasury Henry Paulson expressed support for the US currency.
In late European trading, the euro stood at US$1.3234 from US$1.3280 in New York late on Thursday.
Wall Street shares posted modest gains in late morning deals after the US jobs report.
At 1647 GMT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.33 percent at 12,318.38 while the NASDAQ composite was 0.70 percent higher at 2,444.58.
The Labor Department said US employers added 132,000 jobs last month in a report that suggested overall economic growth remains on track.
The upbeat report -- most economists had forecast job growth of just 105,000 positions -- was released ahead of next Tuesday's meeting of the Federal Reserve at which policymakers will deliberate interest rates.
Job creation is seen as one of the best indicators of economic growth, and most market watchers expect the Fed to keep its key fed funds rate steady at 5.25 percent next week.
In London Barclays jumped 3.25 percent to 730 pence on a report from Merrill Lynch that Britain's third largest bank could be a takeover target of Bank of America.
Mining issues were under pressure, weighed down by lower copper and precious metals prices. Antofagasta fell 4.21 percent to close at 517.50 while Vedanta Resources gave up 5.48 percent to finish at 1,241 pence.
In Paris pharmaceutical group Sanofi-Aventis gained 0.22 percent to reach 68.55 euros as the US Food and Drug Administration announced that its review of the company's anti-obesity treatment Acomplia would be completed by April 26 next year.
Corporate investment bank Natixis jumped 5.07 percent to 21.75 euros on the second day of resumed trading following a major public offering.
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
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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