Europe shares climb to 10-month high
- Source: Global Times
- [00:49 August 25 2009]
- Comments
European shares hit a 10-month peak yesterday, with eurozone industrial-orders data providing more evidence of economic recovery. Mining companies gained and metals prices rose.
At 1037 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was up 0.7 percent at 973.93 points, having hit a 10-month high of 977.93 points earlier in the session.
The index is up 51 percent from the lifetime low it hit on March 9.
“It's a follow-on from the latter half of last week,” said Philip Lawlor, a strategist at Nomura in London. “There was a concern about China, but that dissipated and US data, especially housing, was upbeat, and (Ben) Bernanke was encouraging. Risk aversion is diminishing.”
Mining companies tracked higher metal prices with copper and nickel gaining on an improved economic outlook. Anglo American, Antofagasta, BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Xstrata were between 2.6 and 3.7 percent higher.
Energy stocks were higher as crude hovered around $74 a barrel. Royal Dutch Shell, Total and StatoilHydro were up between 1 and 1.8 percent.
Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC-40 were up between 0.6 and 0.7 percent.
The heavyweight banking sector added most points to the index. Barclays, Credit Suisse, Lloyds Banking Group and UniCredit were up between 1.9 and 5.2 percent.
Economic news provided more evidence of a recovery. Eurozone new industrial orders rebounded more than expected in June against the previous month.
According to the European Union statistics office, Eurostat, orders rose 3.1 percent month-on-month for a 25.1 percent annual drop.
Wall Street looks set to build on last week's gains. Futures for the Dow Jones, S&P 500 and Nasdaq were up between 0.3 and 0.4 percent.
Reuters
