Takeover speculation, positive broker comments and a pleasant surprise in US inflation figures helped European markets post a second day of strong gains on Friday.
In London the FTSE 100 index gained 1.24 percent to close at 6,732.40 points, its highest for five years, while in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.96 percent to finish at 6,105.28 and in Frankfurt the DAX jumped by 2.3 percent to reach 8,030.64.
The DJ Euro STOXX50 index of leading eurozone shares increased by 1.41 percent to 4,548.22 points.
Foreign influences
Across the Atlantic US stocks surged in late morning trade, extending gains from a two-day rally, as an eagerly-awaited inflation report revealed prices largely in check excluding food and energy costs.
Japanese share prices rebounded for a second straight day as the yen slid to fresh lows against the dollar, handing a boost to exporters, dealers said.
In London, the share price of J Sainsbury surged as high as ?5.99 after Qatari investment fund Delta Two increased its shareholding in Britain's third biggest supermarket chain to 25 percent.
The stock later stood at ?5.90, an increase of 4.42 percent from Thursday's close.
Takeover speculation
In Frankfurt on Friday, Deutsche Borse led the risers, climbing 5.05 percent to 88.99 euros on market talk that the operator is interested in the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is the world's biggest oil exchange.
In Paris, shares in aerospace and defense group EADS gained 2.65 percent to 24.05 euros, encouraged by words of support from Prime Minister Francois Fillon and by analysts optimism ahead of next week's Paris air show at Le Bourget.
Elsewhere in Europe, Amsterdam's AEX share index added 1.20 percent to 551.91 points, the Swiss SMI index rose by 1.11 percent to 9,395.75 points, in Milan the SP/MIB gained 1.18 percent to 43,099 points, Madrid's IBEX-35 was up by 1.15 percent at 15,252.1 and in Brussels the BEL-20 closed 0.89 percent higher at 4,681.67 points.
SEASONAL WEAKNESS: The combined revenue of the top 10 foundries fell 5.4%, but rush orders and China’s subsidies partially offset slowing demand Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) further solidified its dominance in the global wafer foundry business in the first quarter of this year, remaining far ahead of its closest rival, Samsung Electronics Co, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. TSMC posted US$25.52 billion in sales in the January-to-March period, down 5 percent from the previous quarter, but its market share rose from 67.1 percent the previous quarter to 67.6 percent, TrendForce said in a report. While smartphone-related wafer shipments declined in the first quarter due to seasonal factors, solid demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) devices and urgent TV-related orders
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) yesterday expressed a downbeat view about the prospects of humanoid robots, given high manufacturing costs and a lack of target customers. Despite rising demand and high expectations for humanoid robots, high research-and-development costs and uncertain profitability remain major concerns, Lam told reporters following the company’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Taoyuan. “Since it seems a bit unworthy to use such high-cost robots to do household chores, I believe robots designed for specific purposes would be more valuable and present a better business opportunity,” Lam said Instead of investing in humanoid robots, Quanta has opted to invest
RSS