European stocks posted solid gains on Friday, boosted by signs that the US job market is holding up well despite the difficulties surrounding the economy.
The UK's FTSE 100 Index gained 1.1 percent to 6,554.9, while France's CAC-40 Index gained 0.8 percent to 5,718.2. Germany's DAX Index rose 0.7 percent to 7,994.1.
"European stocks are looking at the indications coming out of the US," said Stephen Pope, chief global market strategist at Cantor Fitzgerald.
Basic resource stocks rose on the back of higher metals prices and the possibility of more consolidation in the sector.
Speculation of a possible Anglo American/Xstrata combination resurfaced, sending Xstrata shares up 7.9 percent and Anglo American 5.1 percent higher. Norske Skog shares jumped 15 percent, Antofagasta climbed 5.2 percent and Sweden's Boliden rose 3.7 percent.
Credit Suisse shares rose 1.9 percent, Anglo Irish Bank gained 2.3 percent, National Bank of Greece climbed 2.4 percent and Barclays shares rose 2.4 percent.
UK builder Berkeley Group rose 9.5 percent after it said it was making a US$491 million cash return a year ahead of schedule.
It also said the housing market will benefit from Thursday's rate cut by the Bank of England, which brought interest rates down a quarter point to 5.5 percent. A positive outlook for the entire sector sent Taylor Wimpey shares 7.6 percent higher, Persimmon 5.8 percent and Bellway shares up 3.0 percent.
Munich Re rose 5.2 percent, following news that Swedish fund Cevian Capital, had bought a stake of nearly 3 percent.
Drugmaker AstraZeneca edged up 0.1 percent after it announced it is raising its research and development targets.
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