London (AFP) – European stock markets rose Friday as news of eurozone inflation easing to the lowest rate in nearly two years helped to offset worries about high oil prices.
Falls on yields of US government bonds gave an extra boost to sentiment, analysts said, while the dollar weakened.
“Stocks are managing to put a shine on a tough month and rally into the weekend,” said Neil Wilson, chief market analyst at Finalto.
“Yields have come off a bit…along with the US dollar and oil, allowing stocks to make some further clawback, but the 10-year US Treasury note yield remains just a few basis points off its highest in 16 years and crude is not far from a 13-month high” reached earlier this week, he said.
In Asian trading, Hong Kong jumped more than two percent thanks to a surge in tech firms including Alibaba and JD.com.
Sydney, Singapore, Wellington, Mumbai and Jakarta also ended higher, while Tokyo, Manila and Bangkok dipped.
Mainland Chinese markets were closed for the start of an eight-day national holiday.
Unscheduled bond-buying by the Bank of Japan boosted the yen, as traders looked ahead to the start of fourth-quarter trading next week.
“As things stand the equity markets are still in positive territory for the year with US markets leading the way,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.
In the US, the Nasdaq 100 is up more than 30 percent year-to-date thanks “to a strong performance in the tech sector”, he said.
“European markets have lagged with the DAX and CAC 40 up over nine percent, while the FTSE 100 hasn’t really gone anywhere since the end of last year,” he noted, referring to the German, French and UK markets.
London’s benchmark index won support Friday after official data showed the British economy had performed much better than expected between the eve of the Covid pandemic and the second quarter of this year.
– Key figures around 1100 GMT –
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.9 percent at 7,672.56 points
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 1.0 percent at 15,482.44
Paris – CAC 40: UP 1.1 percent at 7,193.61
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.1 percent at 4,206.70
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 31,857.62 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 2.5 percent at 17,809.66 (close)
Shanghai – Composite: Closed for a holiday
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 33,666.34 (close)
Brent North Sea crude: UP 0.8 percent at $96.15 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: UP 0.9 percent at $92.50 per barrel
Dollar/yen: DOWN at 149.10 yen from 149.28 yen on Thursday
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.0609 from $1.0570
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2270 from $1.2203
Euro/pound: DOWN at 86.46 pence from 86.59 pence
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