European stocks rose near an all-time high as miners and oil shares led gains. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index climbed above 7,000 for the first time.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index advanced 0.8 percent to 404.01 at the close of trading on Friday. It is 0.4 percent away from a record close in March 2000, having surpassed the forecasts of 12 strategists surveyed by Bloomberg in January. Anglo American PLC and Glencore PLC climbed more than 4.7 percent, while Total SA advanced 2.5 percent, pushing commodity shares higher.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9 percent to 7,022.51. The index first surpassed its 2000 record last month, having taken more than 15 years for it to regain all the losses from the burst of the tech bubble.
The STOXX 600 exceeded its 2007 peak on Friday on speculation the US Federal Reserve would not rush to raise rates. It has rallied 18 percent this year amid optimism the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stimulus will revive the region’s economy, while a weakening euro will boost profits. The equities gauge is up 1.9 percent this week for a seventh straight gain.
“This year’s rally in Europe is the start of something rather than the end of it,” said Ben Kumar, who helps oversee about US$12 billion at Seven Investment Management in London. “There might be a few wobbles on the way. People still tend to look for the negatives in Europe, which is why they may have underestimated the extent of the gains. With what the ECB is doing, and some relief that the Fed is in no rush to raise rates, stocks are the natural home for investors right now.”
The Greek ASE Index rose 2.9 percent, among the best performers in 18 western European markets, as National Bank of Greece SA and Alpha Bank AE jumped more than 12 percent. Greece could win an infusion of bailout money as soon as next week if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras can deliver an adequate package of reform measures, an EU official told reporters in Brussels.
Among stocks active on corporate news, Lafarge SA rose 2.1 percent after agreeing on revised terms for a US$40 billion merger with Holcim Ltd to form the world’s biggest cement company. CRH PLC gained 5.1 percent in London as shareholders approved its purchase of assets from the two companies. Holcim added 0.5 percent.
Tullow Oil PLC climbed 3.5 percent after saying it received a US$450 million loan increase. TSB Banking Group PLC gained 2.1 percent after Banco de Sabadell SA agreed to buy it for £1.7 billion (US$2.5 billion). Sabadell added 4.5 percent. The Spanish lender also said it would sell as many as 1.09 billion shares in a rights offering for 1.48 euros apiece.
Pirelli & C SpA advanced 2.2 percent after its biggest shareholder said it was seeking to transfer its stake in the tiremaker to an unidentified partner for 15 euros a share. Cam Finanziaria SpA is in talks with China National Chemical Corp (中國化工集團) about the deal, people familiar with the matter said.
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