European stocks posted their third straight weekly advance, with the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index completing its biggest annual increase in a decade as the global economy recovered from its worst recession since World War II.
Basic-resources companies and banks, the worst-performing industry groups in 2008, led gains in the measure, surging 100 percent and 46 percent last year, respectively. Kazakhmys PLC, Kazakhstan’s biggest copper producer, soared 475 percent, as the price of the metal more than doubled. Natixis SA, the investment-banking unit of France’s second-largest lender by branches, climbed 184 percent.
The STOXX 600 rose 28 percent to close the year at 253.16, having posted a 0.5 percent gain in the holiday-shortened week as China raised its economic growth forecast. The measure rebounded 60 percent from the 2009 low in March amid record-low interest rates in the US and Europe and as governments committed about US$12 trillion worldwide to revive credit markets and stimulate growth. The S&P 500 gained 23 percent last year.
National benchmark indexes rose in all of the 18 western European markets except Iceland last year. The north Atlantic island is the Western nation hardest hit by the global credit crisis, and needed to turn to the IMF for a US$2.1 billion loan to avert a default.
Norway’s OBX was the best performer, gaining 70 percent as higher oil prices lifted oilfield-services companies including Seadrill Ltd and Petroleum Geo-Services ASA, which both more than doubled.
The UK’s FTSE 100 climbed 22 percent, and on Tuesday became the first equity market among the biggest developed economies to recover its loss following Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc’s bankruptcy in September 2008. The UK joined Hong Kong, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Spain and Sweden as the only nations among 23 developed markets that have recouped all of their post-Lehman losses.
Beijing’s continued provocations in the Taiwan Strait reveal its intention to unilaterally change the “status quo” in the area, the US Department of State said on Saturday, calling for a peaceful resolution to cross-strait issues. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) reported that four China Coast Guard patrol vessels entered restricted and prohibited waters near Kinmen County on Friday and again on Saturday. A State Department spokesperson said that Washington was aware of the incidents, and urged all parties to exercise restraint and refrain from unilaterally changing the “status quo.” “Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is in line with our [the
EXTENDED RANGE: Hsiung Sheng missiles, 100 of which might be deployed by the end of the year, could reach Chinese command posts and airport runways, a source said A NT$16.9 billion (US$534.93 million) project to upgrade the military’s missile defense systems would be completed this year, allowing the deployment of at least 100 long-range Hsiung Sheng missiles and providing more deterrence against China, military sources said on Saturday. Hsiung Sheng missiles are an extended-range version of the Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E) surface-to-surface cruise missile, and are believed to have a range of up to 1,200km, which would allow them to hit targets well inside China. They went into mass production in 2022, the sources said. The project is part of a special budget for the Ministry of National Defense aimed at
READY TO WORK: Taiwan is eager to cooperate and is hopeful that like-minded states will continue to advocate for its inclusion in regional organizations, Lai said Maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, and peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region must be a top priority, president-elect William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after meeting with a delegation of US academics. Leaders of the G7, US President Joe Biden and other international heads of state have voiced concerns about the situation in the Strait, as stability in the region is necessary for a safe, peaceful and prosperous world, Lai said. The vice president, who is to be inaugurated in May, welcomed the delegation and thanked them for their support for Taiwan and issues concerning the Strait. The international community
COOPERATION: Two crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank off Kinmen were rescued, two were found dead and another two were still missing at press time The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) was yesterday working with Chinese rescuers to find two missing crewmembers from a Chinese fishing boat that sank southwest of Kinmen County yesterday, killing two crew. The joint operation managed to rescue two of the boat’s six crewmembers, but two were already dead when they were pulled from the water, the agency said in a statement. Rescuers are still searching for two others from the Min Long Yu 61222, a boat registered in China’s Fujian Province that capsized and sank 1.03 nautical miles (1.9km) southwest of Dongding Island (東碇), it added. CGA Director-General Chou Mei-wu (周美伍) told a