European stock markets posted solid gains on Friday, with the energy sector in particular lifted by higher crude oil prices, dealers said.
Gains elsewhere were capped by investor caution ahead of the meeting of G7 finance ministers and central bankers over the weekend.
London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares added 0.72 percent to 6,462.40 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 gained 0.97 percent to 7,212.07 and in Paris the CAC 40 rose by 0.70 percent to 5,789.34 points.
The DJ Euro STOXX 50 index of eurozone blue chip shares won 0.87 percent to 4,317.35 points.
Heavyweight energy companies in Europe were boosted by rising crude oil prices, which increase their profits.
The price of Brent North Sea crude hit a seven-month high of US$69.59 a barrel on concerns that current oil supplies might be insufficient to meet demand, traders said.
In London, shares in energy giant BP leapt 2.31 percent, and Anglo-Dutch peer Royal Dutch Shell saw its "B" shares jump 2.30 percent.
In Paris, shares in oil and gas group Total added 1.40 percent.
A leading Frankfurt performer was SAP, the world's biggest maker of business software, whose share price rocketed 2.94 percent after broker Merrill Lynch repeated its "buy" rating on the stock.
"There are some far-flung rumors going around of a possible takeover from Microsoft, but this reiteration has been the main event today for SAP shares," one anonymous Frankfurt trader said.
BASF shares led gainers in Frankfurt, soaring by 3.22 percent on speculation the chemical company could receive a takeover offer from the US group DuPont.
In Amsterdam, meanwhile, the AEX index gained 0.92 percent to 523.68 points, the Swiss SMI added 0.7 percent to 9,177.48, in Milan the SP/MIB gained 0.61 percent to 43,016, in Madrid the IBEX-35 rose by 0.55 percent to 14,965.3 and in Brussels the BEL-20 closed 0.29 percent higher at 4,581.26 points.
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