European stocks rose near an all-time high as miners and oil shares led gains. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index climbed above 7,000 for the first time.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index advanced 0.8 percent to 404.01 at the close of trading on Friday. It is 0.4 percent away from a record close in March 2000, having surpassed the forecasts of 12 strategists surveyed by Bloomberg in January. Anglo American PLC and Glencore PLC climbed more than 4.7 percent, while Total SA advanced 2.5 percent, pushing commodity shares higher.
The FTSE 100 climbed 0.9 percent to 7,022.51. The index first surpassed its 2000 record last month, having taken more than 15 years for it to regain all the losses from the burst of the tech bubble.
The STOXX 600 exceeded its 2007 peak on Friday on speculation the US Federal Reserve would not rush to raise rates. It has rallied 18 percent this year amid optimism the European Central Bank’s (ECB) stimulus will revive the region’s economy, while a weakening euro will boost profits. The equities gauge is up 1.9 percent this week for a seventh straight gain.
“This year’s rally in Europe is the start of something rather than the end of it,” said Ben Kumar, who helps oversee about US$12 billion at Seven Investment Management in London. “There might be a few wobbles on the way. People still tend to look for the negatives in Europe, which is why they may have underestimated the extent of the gains. With what the ECB is doing, and some relief that the Fed is in no rush to raise rates, stocks are the natural home for investors right now.”
The Greek ASE Index rose 2.9 percent, among the best performers in 18 western European markets, as National Bank of Greece SA and Alpha Bank AE jumped more than 12 percent. Greece could win an infusion of bailout money as soon as next week if Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras can deliver an adequate package of reform measures, an EU official told reporters in Brussels.
Among stocks active on corporate news, Lafarge SA rose 2.1 percent after agreeing on revised terms for a US$40 billion merger with Holcim Ltd to form the world’s biggest cement company. CRH PLC gained 5.1 percent in London as shareholders approved its purchase of assets from the two companies. Holcim added 0.5 percent.
Tullow Oil PLC climbed 3.5 percent after saying it received a US$450 million loan increase. TSB Banking Group PLC gained 2.1 percent after Banco de Sabadell SA agreed to buy it for ￡1.7 billion (US$2.5 billion). Sabadell added 4.5 percent. The Spanish lender also said it would sell as many as 1.09 billion shares in a rights offering for 1.48 euros apiece.
Pirelli & C SpA advanced 2.2 percent after its biggest shareholder said it was seeking to transfer its stake in the tiremaker to an unidentified partner for 15 euros a share. Cam Finanziaria SpA is in talks with China National Chemical Corp (中國化工集團) about the deal, people familiar with the matter said.
TECH RACE: The Chinese firm showed off its new Mate XT hours after the latest iPhone launch, but its price tag and limited supply could be drawbacks China’s Huawei Technologies Co (華為) yesterday unveiled the world’s first tri-foldable phone, as it seeks to expand its lead in the world’s biggest smartphone market and steal the spotlight from Apple Inc hours after it debuted a new iPhone. The Chinese tech giant showed off its new Mate XT, which users can fold three ways like an accordion screen door, during a launch ceremony in Shenzhen. The Mate XT comes in red and black and has a 10.2-inch display screen. At 3.6mm thick, it is the world’s slimmest foldable smartphone, Huawei said. The company’s Web site showed that it has garnered more than
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
Vanguard International Semiconductor Corp (世界先進) and Episil Technologies Inc (漢磊) yesterday announced plans to jointly build an 8-inch fab to produce silicon carbide (SiC) chips through an equity acquisition deal. SiC chips offer higher efficiency and lower energy loss than pure silicon chips, and they are able to operate at higher temperatures. They have become crucial to the development of electric vehicles, artificial intelligence data centers, green energy storage and industrial devices. Vanguard, a contract chipmaker focused on making power management chips and driver ICs for displays, is to acquire a 13 percent stake in Episil for NT$2.48 billion (US$77.1 million).
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
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