European equities on Friday posted their biggest weekly gain since early last month, capping a roller-coaster week, with Altice Europe NV and Aryzta AG jumping on takeover news.
The STOXX Europe 600 Index ended the session up 0.13 percent at 367.96, with a slump in banks and travel shares offset by a surge in mining stocks. The benchmark rose 1.67 percent on the week.
Deals were in focus after Next Private BV agreed to buy Altice, sending the shares 24 percent higher, while Aryzta said that it was in advanced talks with Elliott Management Corp about a potential takeover, with its shares rising more than 12 percent.
European stocks have been stuck in a narrow range since mid-June. The rising euro has acted as a headwind for their relative performance to global shares, and the currency resumed its surge against the US dollar after the European Central Bank (ECB) on Thursday said there was no need to intervene.
“The market remains highly sensitive in the short term and prone to unexpected and negative news,” Donner & Reuschel Privatbank technical analyst Martin Utschneider said. “This was also the case with yesterday’s ECB press conference. Hedges — stop loss or profit-taking — should therefore continue to be strictly maintained or adjusted.”
Meanwhile, London’s FTSE 100 ended Friday higher on gains in mining heavyweight Rio Tinto Group, and marked its best week in more than three months as a weaker pound benefited the exporter-heavy index.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 closed the day 0.48 percent higher at 6,032.09 and added 4.02 percent for the week, breaking a three-week losing streak.
Insurer Aviva PLC was the best performing blue-chip for the week after it said it would sell its Singapore business for S$2.7 billion (US$1.97 billion).
“The FTSE 100 has international horizons and the resulting weakness in the pound [from hard Brexit fears] has boosted the relative value of constituents’ overseas earnings,” AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould said.
Rio Tinto was the biggest boost to the index for the day after giving in to shareholder pressure to replace its chief executive over the destruction of two significant Aboriginal rockshelters.
Major miners rose on weakness in the pound and higher metal prices. The pound has come under pressure from increasing bets on a no-deal British exit from the EU.
Still, British stocks have lagged their peers in the developed world as middling economic data and an uptrend in local COVID-19 cases pushed them into a tight trading range since May.
A recent rout in US stock markets also extended to local equities, pressuring the FTSE 100 in particular.
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
‘SHORT TERM’: The local currency would likely remain strong in the near term, driven by anticipated US trade pressure, capital inflows and expectations of a US Fed rate cut The US dollar is expected to fall below NT$30 in the near term, as traders anticipate increased pressure from Washington for Taiwan to allow the New Taiwan dollar to appreciate, Cathay United Bank (國泰世華銀行) chief economist Lin Chi-chao (林啟超) said. Following a sharp drop in the greenback against the NT dollar on Friday, Lin told the Central News Agency that the local currency is likely to remain strong in the short term, driven in part by market psychology surrounding anticipated US policy pressure. On Friday, the US dollar fell NT$0.953, or 3.07 percent, closing at NT$31.064 — its lowest level since Jan.
The US dollar was trading at NT$29.7 at 10am today on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, as the New Taiwan dollar gained NT$1.364 from the previous close last week. The NT dollar continued to rise today, after surging 3.07 percent on Friday. After opening at NT$30.91, the NT dollar gained more than NT$1 in just 15 minutes, briefly passing the NT$30 mark. Before the US Department of the Treasury's semi-annual currency report came out, expectations that the NT dollar would keep rising were already building. The NT dollar on Friday closed at NT$31.064, up by NT$0.953 — a 3.07 percent single-day gain. Today,
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
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