European exchanges posted strong gains on Friday on new mergers and acquisitions talk and an upbeat start to the trading day on Wall Street.
In London the FTSE 100 index gained 0.94 percent to close at 6,640.90 points, its highest level since Sept. 8, 2000.
In Paris the CAC 40 gained 1.23 percent to 6,101.14 points, its highest level since November 2000, while in Frankfurt the DAX gained 1.44 percent to end the day at 7,607.54 points, its highest for seven years.
Across the 13-nation eurozone, the Euro STOXX 50 gained 1.18 percent to end at 4,480.81 percent.
US stocks raced higher in opening trades as another flurry of corporate dealmaking activity boosted buying sentiment going into the weekend.
Japanese share prices ended the week on a downbeat note however, falling for a second day as investors awaited a slew of banking results for fresh leads, dealers said.
In London the price of shares in Royal Dutch Shell climbed 2.53 percent to £19.06 and energy peer BP rose 2.02 percent to £5.82 on higher oil prices and amid vague talk of a tie-up between the pair.
British confectionery and soft drink giant Cadbury Schweppes gained 1.71 percent to £6.85 on talk of a possible private-equity bid for its US beverage arm worth £8 billion (US$15.8 billion), dealers said.
In Paris Total also benefited from the higher price of oil, gaining 2.91 percent to 56.19 euros.
EADS jumped 3.34 percent to 23.50 euros on reports that Dubai International Capital is considering taking a stake in the European defense company.
"This is driving the shares, although it was already a topic a couple of months ago," said one trader, who wished to remain anonymous.
In Frankfurt, engineering giant Siemens gained 4.13 percent to 92.54 euros, while chemicals and pharmaceuticals giant Bayer gained 3.46 percent to 51.2 euros.
Elsewhere in Europe there were rises of 0.97 percent to 536.69 in Amsterdam and 0.72 percent to 9,424.69 on the Swiss Market Index, while in Madrid the IBEX 35 rose 0.67 percent to 15,068.40 points and in Brussels share prices on the BEL 20 index rose 1.26 percent to 4,749.45.
In Milan shares on the SP/MIB rose 0.91 percent to 44,364 points.
The Eurovision Song Contest has seen a surge in punter interest at the bookmakers, becoming a major betting event, experts said ahead of last night’s giant glamfest in Basel. “Eurovision has quietly become one of the biggest betting events of the year,” said Tomi Huttunen, senior manager of the Online Computer Finland (OCS) betting and casino platform. Betting sites have long been used to gauge which way voters might be leaning ahead of the world’s biggest televised live music event. However, bookmakers highlight a huge increase in engagement in recent years — and this year in particular. “We’ve already passed 2023’s total activity and
Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) today announced that his company has selected "Beitou Shilin" in Taipei for its new Taiwan office, called Nvidia Constellation, putting an end to months of speculation. Industry sources have said that the tech giant has been eyeing the Beitou Shilin Science Park as the site of its new overseas headquarters, and speculated that the new headquarters would be built on two plots of land designated as "T17" and "T18," which span 3.89 hectares in the park. "I think it's time for us to reveal one of the largest products we've ever built," Huang said near the
China yesterday announced anti-dumping duties as high as 74.9 percent on imports of polyoxymethylene (POM) copolymers, a type of engineering plastic, from Taiwan, the US, the EU and Japan. The Chinese Ministry of Commerce’s findings conclude a probe launched in May last year, shortly after the US sharply increased tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, computer chips and other imports. POM copolymers can partially replace metals such as copper and zinc, and have various applications, including in auto parts, electronics and medical equipment, the Chinese ministry has said. In January, it said initial investigations had determined that dumping was taking place, and implemented preliminary
Intel Corp yesterday reinforced its determination to strengthen its partnerships with Taiwan’s ecosystem partners including original-electronic-manufacturing (OEM) companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) and chipmaker United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電). “Tonight marks a new beginning. We renew our new partnership with Taiwan ecosystem,” Intel new chief executive officer Tan Lip-bu (陳立武) said at a dinner with representatives from the company’s local partners, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the US chip giant’s presence in Taiwan. Tan took the reins at Intel six weeks ago aiming to reform the chipmaker and revive its past glory. This is the first time Tan
RSS