Most European stocks fell, even as the benchmark index completed a weekly advance, amid concern that the conflict between Ukraine and Russia is deepening.
The STOXXX Europe 600 Index lost less than 0.1 percent to 339.66 at the close in London as three stocks fell for every two that rose.
The equity benchmark slid 0.9 percent on Thursday after Ukraine said that pro-Russian separatists shot down a Malaysia Air jet near the town of Torez. The gauge still gained 0.8 percent this week.
National benchmark indices fell in 11 of the 18 Western European markets. The UK’s FTSE 100 added 0.2 percent, France’s CAC 40 gained 0.4 percent and Germany’s DAX declined 0.4 percent.
Air France-KLM and Ryanair Holdings PLC led a retreat among European travel stocks.
Air France-KLM lost 2.1 percent to 8.59 euros, Deutsche Lufthansa AG slid 1.1 percent to 14.45 euros and Ryanair declined 1.9 percent to 6.73 euros.
A gauge of auto industry companies posted the worst performance among the 19 industry groups in the STOXX 600.
Volvo AB fell 5.4 percent to 87.30 kronor on Friday, the most since October last year. The world’s second-largest truckmaker reported second-quarter earnings before interest and taxes of 3.56 billion kronor (US$521 million), missing the 4.28 billion kronor average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg survey.
Schibsted ASA declined 6.1 percent to 309 kroner after Norway’s biggest media group reported second-quarter earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 574 million kroner (US$93 million), missing the average estimate of 611 million kroner. Friday’s drop was the biggest since August 2011 for Schibsted.
Daimler AG declined 1.7 percent to 65.40 euros. Michelin & Cie., Europe’s biggest tiremaker, lost 1 percent to 85.41 euros.
Shire PLC rose 4 percent after AbbVie Inc agreed to buy the drugmaker for £52.48 (US$89.80) a share, while Ericsson AB posted the biggest rally since April 2011 after reporting a profit margin that beat forecasts.
AbbVie’s cash-and-stock deal values Shire at 53 percent above its closing price on May 2, before the US drugmaker made its first proposal, according to a statement. The combined company will cut their tax rate to about 13 percent from 22 percent.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
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
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
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],”