European stocks on Friday rebounded after three days of declines as better-than-expected Chinese data helped ease investor concerns over global growth and the health of the world’s second-biggest economy.
The STOXX 600 Index climbed 1.3 percent at the close of trading, its biggest gain since Sept. 22. The equity gauge rose 0.1 percent this week, halting a two-week losing streak.
Friday’s increase pushed it above its 100-day moving average after it dipped below in the past two days. Gains were helped as forecast-beating results from Citigroup Inc and JPMorgan Chase & Co alleviated some concerns about the strength of US earnings.
Italian banks led lenders to the biggest advance on the STOXX 600, with Banco Popolare SC and Banca Popolare di Milano Scarl rising 6.1 percent or more on optimism that shareholders will this weekend back their merger.
Rio Tinto Group and BHP Billiton Ltd contributed the most to gains among miners.
Anglo American PLC added 1.6 percent after people with knowledge of the matter said Apollo Global Management LLC and Xcoal Energy & Resources LLC are poised to buy its Australian metallurgical coal assets.
“The fall yesterday [Thursday] was a little too vigorous, so we are getting a bounce back,” said Frances Hudson, a global thematic strategist at Standard Life Investments in Edinburgh. “Following the data on producer prices, we are getting a strong performance from miners today. At a market level, we seem to be traveling optimistically with regards to earnings in Europe.”
Data on Friday showing that China’s producer prices rose for the first time since 2012, as well as higher-than-estimated inflation, offered a more encouraging outlook for the country.
European stocks have yet to fully recover from a slide at the start of the year precipitated by anxiety over a Chinese slowdown.
Anxiety about the health of corporate Europe has also weighed on equities.
More than 150 members in the STOXX 600 are reporting earnings this month, with analysts forecasting a profit decline of 4.2 percent this year for the index’s constituents.
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
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