European stocks rallied for a third week, closing at their highest level in almost five years, as companies from BT Group PLC to Hochtief AG posted earnings that beat estimates, while economic data exceeded expectations.
BT surged 13 percent as the fixed-line phone operator proposed a higher full-year dividend, while Hochtief gained 7.5 percent after it posted a first-quarter profit and sold its airport division. Alcatel-Lucent SA rose 14 percent as its chief executive officer said that he may sell assets abd National Bank of Greece SA led stocks in Greece, surging 48 percent.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index rose 1.3 percent this week to 304.99, its highest level since June 2008. The equity benchmark has gained 9.1 percent so far this year amid confidence that central banks around the world will continue to add stimulus to support economic growth.
“The stock rally is mainly driven by continued accommodative policies around the world, lately the rate cut by the European Central Bank and the aggressive money printing in Japan,” RobecoSAM AG portfolio manager Kai Fachinger wrote in a message.
The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee left its bond-purchase program at £375 billion (US$575 billion) when it met on Thursday. The policymakers also held their benchmark interest rate at 0.5 percent. In Asia, Bank of Korea Governor Kim Choong-soo and his board lowered their benchmark seven-day repurchase rate on Thursday to 2.5 percent from 2.75 percent.
Reports from two of Europe’s three biggest economies beat estimates. In Germany, a measure of industrial production increased 1.2 percent in March. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had predicted a 0.1 percent drop.
A separate release showed that Germany’s exports, adjusted for working days and seasonal changes, advanced 0.5 percent in March. They declined 1.2 percent in February.
UK industrial production also rose more than economists had forecast as cold weather increased demand for electricity and gas. Output climbed 0.7 percent from February, a report from the British Office for National Statistics showed on Thursday.
National benchmark indices advanced in every western European market this week, except for Spain. The UK’s FTSE 100 added 1.6 percent, France’s CAC 40 rose 1 percent and Germany’s DAX jumped 1.9 percent.
BUSINESS UPDATE: The iPhone assembler said operations outlook is expected to show quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year growth for the second quarter Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday reported strong growth in sales last month, potentially raising expectations for iPhone sales while artificial intelligence (AI)-related business booms. The company, which assembles the majority of Apple Inc’s smartphones, reported a 19.03 percent rise in monthly sales to NT$510.9 billion (US$15.78 billion), from NT$429.22 billion in the same period last year. On a monthly basis, sales rose 14.16 percent, it said. The company in a statement said that last month’s revenue was a record-breaking April performance. Hon Hai, known also as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), assembles most iPhones, but the company is diversifying its business to
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Qualcomm Inc, the world’s biggest seller of smartphone processors, gave an upbeat forecast for sales and profit in the current period, suggesting demand for handsets is increasing after a two-year slump. Revenue in the three months ended in June will be US$8.8 billion to US$9.6 billion, the company said in a statement Wednesday. Excluding certain items, earnings will be US$2.15 to US$2.35 a share. Analysts had projected sales of US$9.08 billion and earnings of US$2.16 a share. The outlook signals that the smartphone market has begun to bounce back, tracking with Qualcomm’s forecast that demand would gradually recover this year. The San
Apple Inc has been developing a homegrown chip to run artificial intelligence (AI) tools in data centers, although it is unclear if the semiconductor would ever be deployed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. The effort would build on Apple’s previous efforts to make in-house chips, which run in its iPhones, Macs and other devices, according to the Journal, which cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. The server project is code-named ACDC (Apple Chips in Data Center) within the company, aiming to utilize Apple’s expertise in chip design for the company’s server infrastructure, the newspaper said. While this initiative has been