European stocks ended higher on Friday, with Germany's DAX index hitting a new intraday high one day after the Dow Jones Industrial Average index in the US rose to a record level.
The DAX 30 index rose as high as 8,151.57 early in the session, surpassing the previous high of 8,136.16 from 2000, before closing up 0.5 percent at 8,092.77. The French CAC-40 index rose 0.2 percent to 6,117.96 and the UK's FTSE 100 index added 0.3 percent to 6,716.70.
On Thursday, the Dow industrials hit a new high as traders cheered deal news and sales updates. US shares were mixed in early trading on Friday.
Chemicals group BASF was the top gainer in the German index, up 1.9 percent after UBS lifted its price target on the stock. Other strong gainers in Frankfurt included technology firm SAP, up 1 percent, and insurer Allianz up 1.2 percent.
Heino Ruland, a strategist at Steubing in Frankfurt, attributed the gains in the German stock market to Thursday's US rally.
Investors looked for bargains in the financial services sector after a recent subprime-related selloff. Deutsche Bank shares rose 1.5 percent and Munich Re shares increased 0.7 percent.
Shares in Man Group, the world's largest listed hedge fund manager, rose 3 percent in London, while shares of insurer Old Mutual added 2.1 percent.
Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays shares rose more than 0.8 percent after the Dutch Supreme Court ruled that ABN Amro is allowed to sell its LaSalle business to Bank of America without a shareholder vote. Barclays and Royal Bank of Scotland are rivals to buy ABN Amro.
Shares in mining giant Rio Tinto fell 2.1 percent after Alcoa Inc. said late on Thursday that it has withdrawn its US$27 billion offer for Alcan Inc. Alcoa made the decision after Rio Tinto came forward with a pricier bid early on Thursday, dashing speculation the two metals giants could get into a bidding war over the world's third-largest aluminum producer.
Other miners were lower, with BHP Billiton down 1.7 percent and Lonmin down 1.7 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],”
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
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained