The gains came after US stocks put in another record-setting performance on Wednesday, with the Dow industrials rising 103 points – or about 40 points higher than when European markets had closed on Wednesday. Volumes were on the low side in Europe with many traders on vacation for the Ascension Day holiday.
Broadly, the pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 rose 0.2% at 390.16, with Cairn Energy climbing 4.5% and Shell up 1.5%. Cairn was particularly strong as the Financial Times and Reuters reported market speculation of takeover interest in the Scottish-based explorer. Crude-oil futures also were supportive, rising 45 cents to $63 a barrel. The UK FTSE 100 rose 0.2% to 6,573.40, the German DAX 30 rose 0.5% to 7,517.62 and the French CAC 40 improved 0.2% at 6,032.14.
The euro was down slightly at $1.3518 and the British pound also edged slightly lower to $1.9765. Of stocks in focus, BT shares declined 2.1%. Europe’s third-largest telecommunications company posted a 16% rise in quarterly profit and said it would return near $5 billion to shareholders. The results were a touch light of consensus forecasts on the sales side, but topped expectations at the earnings-per-share level. (marketwatch.com)
Producing journalism that is worthy of the name is a costly business. For over 30 years, the publishers, editors and reporters of the Budapest Business Journal have striven to bring you business news that works, information that you can trust, that is factual, accurate and presented without fear or favor.Newspaper organizations across the globe have struggled to find a business model that allows them to continue to excel, without compromising their ability to perform. Most recently, some have experimented with the idea of involving their most important stakeholders, their readers.
We would like to offer that same opportunity to our readers. We would like to invite you to help us deliver the quality business journalism you require. Hit our Support the BBJ button and you can choose the how much and how often you send us your contributions.
