Equities push higher before Easter break
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — European and US stock markets rose yesterday as investors closed positions before the long Easter holiday weekend.
The mood has improved this week but worries remain over Wall Street’s recent tech-based sell-off and trade war fears, dealers said.
“The onset of the Easter holiday encouraged investors to take a well-deserved breather,” said Jasper Lawler, head of research at London Capital Group.
Sentiment was lifted after Chicago-based US exchange giant CME Group bought British operator NEX on Thursday for about £3.9 billion (US$5.4 billion) in a deal aimed at cost-cutting and diversifying their businesses.
In other M&A news, a majority of shareholders in British engineering group GKN accepted an £8.1 billion takeover offer from investment firm Melrose after a long-running battle, sending GKN’s shares soaring over nine per cent.
Meanwhile, data showing first-time claims for unemployment benefits hitting a 45-year low last week and the US inflation rate hitting an 11-month high of 1.8 per cent also comforted investors, helping Wall Street push higher, with the Dow up 1.0 percent in midday trading.
RENAULT ACCELERATES
Paris stocks revved higher on a 5.8 percent gain in Renault shares.
Shares in the French automaker reached the highest level in a decade at one point after the Bloomberg news agency said that Renault was talking to its alliance partner Nissan about a merger that would create a new group trading as a single stock.
The London stock market edged higher as official data showed that the British economy grew by 1.8 per cent last year. That was an upgrade from the prior estimate of 1.7 per cent.
Shares in carmakers drove the DAX 30 higher in Frankfurt after Volkswagen made an offer to change diesels hit by pollution, with Daimler and BMW teaming up in car-sharing.
Frankfurt, Paris and London will shut up shop for a four-day Easter holiday weekend at the close of play on Thursday, and will reopen for business on Tuesday.
US markets will be closed today but open on Monday.
In Asia, stocks fluctuated Thursday as a volatile week drew to an early close in many markets.
Hong Kong swung through the day and finished up 0.2 per cent, following the previous day’s 2.5 per cent dive, while Shanghai finished 1.2 per cent higher.
Seoul added 0.7 per cent following news that North Korean leader Kim and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in will hold a summit on April 27.
TRUMP ATTACKS AMAZON
Tech sector jitters weren’t calmed yesterday when US President Donald Trump took aim at Amazon, claiming the US online giant pays too little in taxes and hurts other retailers.
“Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the US), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!” Trump tweeted.
The comments came a day after a report by the news site Axios that Trump was “obsessed” with Amazon.
Amazon fell 4.4 per cent on Wednesday following the report and dropped another 1.0 per cent in yesterday trading.
Market titan Facebook has led a plunge in big-name stocks in recent days on worries about a regulatory clampdown following a massive data breach at the social media site. Its shares rebounded nearly 4 percent in midday trading, but are still down around 14 per cent from mid-March.