European stock exchanges closed generally weaker on Friday although the London FTSE 100 index gained 0.10 percent to finish at 6,190 points in a shortened pre-holiday session.
In Paris the CAC 40 fell 1.02 percent to finish at 5,453.94 while in Frankfurt the Dax shed 1.08 percent to close at 6,503.13.
The Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares fell 0.94 percent to 4073.50.
In London cruise group Carnival added 2.48 percent to close at ?25.99 on positive financial results.
Mobile phone giant Vodafone fell 1.22 percent to ?1.42 after confirming that it would bid for the two-thirds stake in Hutchison Essor of India held by the Hong Kong conglomerate Hutchison Whampoa, an acquisition that could cost it US$10 billion.
In Paris, where profit-taking took a toll, aerospace group EADS fell 0.08 percent to 25.7 euros, while stock market operator Euronext shed 1.11 percent to close at 89.25 euros.
Engineering giant Alstom jumped 1.41 percent to 100.80 euros despite denying a report that it had won a 3.6-billion-euro order from China for 1,500 freight locomotives.
In Frankfurt Deutsche Bank lost 1.09 percent to finish at 100.29 euros after announcing on Thursday that it had agreed to a US$208 million settlement following a probe into improper trading in its mutual funds.
Elsewhere there were declines of 0.60 percent to 14,066.1 on the Ibex-35 in Madrid, 1.04 percent to 40,841 on the SP/Mib in Milan, 0.78 percent to 490.77 on the AEX in Amsterdam and 0.56 percent to 8,726.67 on the Swiss Market Index.
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
Leading Taiwanese bicycle brands Giant Manufacturing Co (巨大機械) and Merida Industry Co (美利達工業) on Sunday said that they have adopted measures to mitigate the impact of the tariff policies of US President Donald Trump’s administration. The US announced at the beginning of this month that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on imported goods made in Taiwan, effective on Thursday last week. The tariff would be added to other pre-existing most-favored-nation duties and industry-specific trade remedy levy, which would bring the overall tariff on Taiwan-made bicycles to between 25.5 percent and 31 percent. However, Giant did not seem too perturbed by the
TARIFF CONCERNS: Semiconductor suppliers are tempering expectations for the traditionally strong third quarter, citing US tariff uncertainty and a stronger NT dollar Several Taiwanese semiconductor suppliers are taking a cautious view of the third quarter — typically a peak season for the industry — citing uncertainty over US tariffs and the stronger New Taiwan dollar. Smartphone chip designer MediaTek Inc (聯發科技) said that customers accelerated orders in the first half of the year to avoid potential tariffs threatened by US President Donald Trump’s administration. As a result, it anticipates weaker-than-usual peak-season demand in the third quarter. The US tariff plan, announced on April 2, initially proposed a 32 percent duty on Taiwanese goods. Its implementation was postponed by 90 days to July 9, then
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