European stocks rose for a fifth day on Friday, capping the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index’s best week on record, as lower oil lifted airlines and overshadowed a reduced sales forecast from STMicroelectronics NV.
British Airways PLC added 5.8 percent and Air France-KLM Group gained 3.8 percent as crude slid below US$52 a barrel. STMicroelectronics, Europe’s largest chipmaker, sank 5.1 percent, dragging down technology shares.
The STOXX 600 added 1.3 percent to 206.25, extending the rebound from a five-year low last Friday to 13 percent. Raw-materials producers, banks and insurers led this week’s gains on speculation government stimulus packages in Europe and the US will cushion economies from the financial crisis. The index still lost 7.1 percent this month.
More than US$30 trillion has been wiped off the value of global equities this year as credit losses and writedowns approached US$1 trillion in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
National benchmark indexes rose in 10 out of 18 western European markets on Friday. The FTSE 100 gained 1.5 percent. Germany’s DAX was little changed as Infineon Technologies AG declined. France’s CAC 40 increased 0.4 percent.
The rally in global stocks this week pushed the MSCI World Index up 12 percent, the biggest weekly gain since records began in 1970. The gauge of 23 developed markets still dropped 7.3 percent this month and is down 44 percent this year.
Europe’s inflation rate fell by the most in almost two decades to 2.1 percent this month and unemployment increased, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to continue cutting interest rates to battle the recession.
British Airways increased 5.8 percent to 155.1 pence. Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest carrier, added 3.8 percent to 10.20 euros. Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, Spain’s largest airline, gained 8.4 percent to 1.94 euros.
Crude oil for January delivery sank as much as US$3.32, or 6.1 percent, to US$51.12 a barrel in New York on speculation a potential OPEC production cut to support prices may fail to outweigh declining fuel demand amid the global recession.
Commerzbank AG climbed 4.9 percent to 7.22 euros after Germany’s second-biggest lender sped up its takeover of domestic competitor Dresdner Bank by as much as a year in a revised purchase valued at 5.1 billion euros (US$6.6 billion).
Dresdner’s owner Allianz SE jumped 9 percent to 65.21 euros. Commerzbank will pay Allianz 250 million euros as part of the new agreement to forgo an agreement covering potential losses on specific asset-backed securities at Dresdner.
Storebrand ASA, Norway’s largest publicly traded insurer, advanced 9.2 percent to 12.51 kroner after the government canceled the sale of Kaupthing Bank HF’s stake in the company.
Acergy SA, the UK-based provider of oil services, climbed 9.8 percent to 39.8 kroner after its outlook for next year exceeded analyst estimates.
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-biggest maker of semiconductors, dropped 4.2 percent to 1.85 euros.
The paramount chief of a volcanic island in Vanuatu yesterday said that he was “very impressed” by a UN court’s declaration that countries must tackle climate change. Vanuatu spearheaded the legal case at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, which on Wednesday ruled that countries have a duty to protect against the threat of a warming planet. “I’m very impressed,” George Bumseng, the top chief of the Pacific archipelago’s island of Ambrym, told reporters in the capital, Port Vila. “We have been waiting for this decision for a long time because we have been victims of this climate change for
Rainfall is expected to become more widespread and persistent across central and southern Taiwan over the next few days, with the effects of the weather patterns becoming most prominent between last night and tomorrow, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Independent meteorologist Daniel Wu (吳德榮) said that based on the latest forecast models of the combination of a low-pressure system and southwesterly winds, rainfall and flooding are expected to continue in central and southern Taiwan from today to Sunday. The CWA also warned of flash floods, thunder and lightning, and strong gusts in these areas, as well as landslides and fallen
MASSIVE LOSS: If the next recall votes also fail, it would signal that the administration of President William Lai would continue to face strong resistance within the legislature The results of recall votes yesterday dealt a blow to the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) efforts to overturn the opposition-controlled legislature, as all 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers survived the recall bids. Backed by President William Lai’s (賴清德) DPP, civic groups led the recall drive, seeking to remove 31 out of 39 KMT lawmakers from the 113-seat legislature, in which the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) together hold a majority with 62 seats, while the DPP holds 51 seats. The scale of the recall elections was unprecedented, with another seven KMT lawmakers facing similar votes on Aug. 23. For a
All 24 lawmakers of the main opposition Chinese Nationalists Party (KMT) on Saturday survived historical nationwide recall elections, ensuring that the KMT along with Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers will maintain opposition control of the legislature. Recall votes against all 24 KMT lawmakers as well as Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) and KMT legislative caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) failed to pass, according to Central Election Commission (CEC) figures. In only six of the 24 recall votes did the ballots cast in favor of the recall even meet the threshold of 25 percent of eligible voters needed for the recall to pass,
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