European stocks on Friday closed at a record high, marking strong weekly gains, as positive economic data and upbeat earnings underpinned hopes of a swift economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.89 percent to a record high of 444.93 points. It added 1.72 percent this week — its best performance since mid-March.
Global stocks rallied to record highs as investors scaled back expectations of policy tapering by the US Federal Reserve, after data showed the US labor market had a long road to recovery from the pandemic.
European technology stocks were the best performers for the day, rising 2.2 percent as they recovered from a rout seen earlier in the week. The sector ended the week largely unchanged.
Basic resource stocks were the best weekly performers, adding 7.2 percent for the week and ending at more than a decade-high as optimism over recovering global demand pushed up base metal and iron ore prices.
The German DAX rose 1.34 percent to 15,399.65, up 1.74 percent for the week and inching closer to its lifetime high.
France’s CAC 40 ended up 0.45 percent at 6,385.51 — its highest level since November 2000. It gained 1.85 percent from a week earlier.
The UK’s FTSE 100 increased 0.76 percent to 7,129.71, breaching the 7,100 mark for the first time since February last year. On a weekly basis, it jumped 2.29 percent.
Data showed that German companies increased their exports for the 11th month in a row in March, with growth coming in at 1.2 percent, twice the rate economists had forecast.
A swathe of positive earnings and data has helped European stocks rally to record highs this year, amid growing optimism over COVID-19 vaccine programs spurring a return to normalcy.
“It’s going to be an exceptionally strong couple of quarters going forward, and that makes it very unlikely that the market will suffer in a big way over the next six months,” said Andrea Cicione, head of strategy at TS Lombard.
The moment growth starts to slow down, probably at the same time the Fed starts taking some liquidity away, markets would be more vulnerable, Cicione said.
On the earnings front, German sportswear company Adidas AG surged 8.4 percent after it raised its sales outlook for this year.
Jewelry maker Pandora A/S gained 3 percent after reporting 214 percent sales growth last month.
The UK’s Meggitt PLC jumped 8.3 percent after a media report of a takeover, while French mall owner Klepierre SA edged lower on trimming its cash flow forecast for this year.
Spanish energy and infrastructure group Acciona SA rose 2.3 percent after it said that it expects to list a stake in its energy business in the first half of this year.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained