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Euro stocks leap to 4-month highs
LONDON, England -- European stock indices leapt to four-and-a-half month highs in brisk trade late on Friday and were level for the year to date as investors reacted to reassuring U.S. jobs data and tracked gains on Wall Street. London's FTSE 100 closed up 1.13 percent at 4,150.80, the Paris CAC-40 ended up 1.95 percent at 3,093.21, the Zurich SMI closed up 1.70 percent at 4,786.70 while Amsterdam's AEX Index was up 3.52 percent at 299.59. At 1615 GMT Frankfurt's Xetra Dax was up 2.93 percent at 3,128.76. Shortly before, with only Frankfurt still trading, the FTSE Eurotop 300 index of pan-European blue-chip shares was up 2.25 percent at 856 points, while the DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index was up 2.4 percent at 2,422 points. That left the Eurotop 300 benchmark almost four percent up on the week and flat for the year to date. Gainers outpaced fallers by around five to one. Technology stocks such as Europe's biggest software maker SAP (FSAP) and Dutch giant Philips led the climbers after U.S. software leader Oracle sparked consolidation hopes and after upbeat comments from Intel overnight. Also blazing a bullish trail were shares in news and information provider Reuters, boosted by hopes for a recovery in demand from its major clients in the investment industry, dealers said. "The market is being driven by a pickup in economic growth expectations," Ben Funnell, a European equities strategist at Morgan Stanley, told Reuters. He said the market had another 11 percent potential upside over the coming months. "Better-than-expected U.S. non-farm payrolls data today, the ECB's interest rate cut, and stronger ISM U.S. manufacturing and non-manufacturing surveys earlier this week -- they are all pointing in that direction." Shares in European software and technology consultancy stocks such as SAP, France's Altran, and Britain's Misys leapt by around six to 10 percent as news Oracle wanted to take over PeopleSoft prompted hopes of further consolidation in the sector. Upbeat comments from the world's biggest semiconductor group Intel (INTC) also helped boost chip-related stocks such as Infineon (FIFX), Philips, STMicroelectronics (PSTM) and ASML. (Full story) Drug stocks such as Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca rose 4.8 percent on hopes reform of the U.S. Medicare programme will boost demand for prescription medicines in the world's biggest market. The airline sector also surged after the European Union decided to seek an "open skies" agreement with the United States. British Airways soared by around nine percent, while Iberia, Air France and Lufthansa added between four percent and six percent. Among mid-cap stocks, the building sector was a focus. Shares in Italian construction firm Buzzi Unicem sank 4.1percent on what traders said were jitters about the cost of its bid to extend its hold on German partner Dyckerhoff. But shares in Canary Wharf soared 46 percent after the developer of London's Docklands said it had been approached by several potential bidders.
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