European shares posted this year’s biggest advance, buoyed by a surprise election win for British Prime Minister David Cameron’s party and improving US jobs data.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index surged 2.9 percent to 400.16 at the close of trading, up 1.4 percent for the week. The gauge extended gains after data showed the US unemployment rate fell to a six-year low in April, while payrolls climbed 223,000.
The UK’s FTSE 100 Index rebounded 2.3 percent from a one- month low after the Conservatives reached the 326-seat threshold necessary to end a coalition with the Liberal Democrats and govern alone. All but two stocks rose.
“Markets don’t like uncertainty, and there would’ve been uncertainty with a hung parliament. Now it looks like it’ll likely be a majority,” London-based CMC Markets PLC market analyst Jasper Lawler said.
German and Swiss stocks were among the best performers in western-European markets. The DAX Index climbed 2.7 percent, completing its best week in a month, while the Swiss Market Index added 2.5 percent, ending a three-day decline. The volume of shares changing hands in STOXX 600 companies was 36 percent higher than the 30-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
British lenders and utilities rallied after the defeat of Labour, which had pledged more levies on bank balance sheets and fixed prices in the household-energy industry. Lloyds Banking Group PLC and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC jumped at least 5.8 percent, while Centrica PLC and SSE PLC advanced more than 5.3 percent.
Barratt Developments PLC and Berkeley Group Holdings PLC rose more than 7.1 percent, pacing gains among UK homebuilders. Betting company Ladbrokes PLC surged 9.9 percent.
Among shares active on corporate news, Syngenta AG surged 19 percent after the agrochemicals maker rejected an offer of 41.7 billion Swiss francs (US$45 billion) by Monsanto Co.
Nokia Oyj added 4.1 percent after the New York Times reported that Uber Technologies Inc has submitted a bid for its maps business. Enel SpA gained 4.1 percent and Nokian Renkaat Oyj jumped 9.1 percent after both companies reported quarterly sales and earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.
Greece’s ASE Index fell 0.3 percent before a meeting of eurozone finance ministers tomorrow, the only Western European market to decline.
NEW IDENTITY: Known for its software, India has expanded into hardware, with its semiconductor industry growing from US$38bn in 2023 to US$45bn to US$50bn India on Saturday inaugurated its first semiconductor assembly and test facility, a milestone in the government’s push to reduce dependence on foreign chipmakers and stake a claim in a sector dominated by China. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi opened US firm Micron Technology Inc’s semiconductor assembly, test and packaging unit in his home state of Gujarat, hailing the “dawn of a new era” for India’s technology ambitions. “When young Indians look back in the future, they will see this decade as the turning point in our tech future,” Modi told the event, which was broadcast on his YouTube channel. The plant would convert
‘SEISMIC SHIFT’: The researcher forecast there would be about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior year and erasing years of gains The global smartphone market is expected to contract 12.9 percent this year due to the unprecedented memorychip shortage, marking “a crisis like no other,” researcher International Data Corp (IDC) said. The new forecast, a dramatic revision down from earlier estimates, gives the latest accounting of the ongoing memory crunch that is affecting every corner of the electronics industry. The demand for advanced memory to power artificial intelligence (AI) tasks has drained global supply until well into next year and jeopardizes the business model of many smartphone makers. IDC forecast about 1.1 billion mobile shipments this year, down from 1.26 billion the prior
People stand in a Pokemon store in Tokyo on Thursday. One of the world highest-grossing franchises is celebrated its 30th anniversary yesterday.
Zimbabwe’s ban on raw lithium exports is forcing Chinese miners to rethink their strategy, speeding up plans to process the metal locally instead of shipping it to China’s vast rechargeable battery industry. The country is Africa’s largest lithium producer and has one of the world’s largest reserves, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Zimbabwe already banned the export of lithium ore in 2022 and last year announced it would halt exports of lithium concentrates from January next year. However, on Wednesday it imposed the ban with immediate effect, leaving unclear what the lithium mining sector would do in the
RSS