European shares fell back on Friday after two days of solid gains that helped the STOXX 600 index notch its seventh straight week of rises amid signs of China re-opening its economy and easing worries about interest rate hikes.
The pan-European index closed 0.15 percent lower at 443.29 after rallying 1.5 percent in the past two sessions. The index gained 0.58 percent over the week, and registered its longest weekly winning streak since April last year.
Energy and technology stocks were among the biggest drags on the broader index, offsetting gains in real estate and retailers.
“There appears to be some profit-taking after sessions characterized mostly by risk-on appetite. Optimism toward the economic reopening in China has helped drive gains,” Interactive Investor head of investment Victoria Scholar said.
Chinese officials this week softened their stance on strict COVID-19 curbs that have impacted global growth amid protests in the country.
Rate-sensitive tech stocks also took a hit as eurozone government bond yields rose in line with a move in US Treasury yields after data showed that US employers hired more workers than expected last month and increased wages, despite mounting worries of a recession.
“Strong job creation and a big increase in wages underscore the [US] Federal Reserve’s argument that a lot more work needs to be done to get inflation under control,” ING Group chief international economist James Knightley said in a note.
“It has certainly jolted the market, but with recessionary fears lingering, market participants will remain skeptical over how long the strong performance can last,” he said.
Data this week from Europe showing cooling inflation and falling German retail sales and exports have also made the case for the European Central Bank (ECB) to opt for a smaller hike.
However, ECB Vice President Luis de Guindos on Friday said that the central bank needs to focus on bringing inflation down to its 2 percent mid-term goal and therefore keep raising interest rates despite a recent deceleration in the pace of price rises.
In London, the FTSE 100 index was subdued as gains in financials and consumer staple stocks were offset by losses in oil majors BP PLC and Shell PLC.
The blue-chip index dipped 0.03 percent to 7,556.23. It rose 0.93 percent for the week, its third straight weekly gain.
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],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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