London (AFP) – European and Asian stock markets mostly rose Friday, the end of a week beset by volatility after China’s DeepSeek unveiled an artificial intelligence model to rival those of US tech giants. Confirmation from US President Donald Trump that the world’s biggest economy would impose hefty tariffs on Canada and Mexico from this weekend added to the economic unrest felt around the globe, pushing haven investment gold to fresh record highs Thursday.
Following sharp losses for equities early in the week as tech stocks plunged, markets have recovered somewhat thanks to positive earnings and company strategy updates. London’s benchmark FTSE 100 hit fresh highs Friday, helped by an 11-percent jump in the share price of Smiths Group after the British engineering company said it planned to simplify the business and return substantial sums to shareholders. The British index also took “cues from solid trading on Wall Street as the recovery from Monday’s DeepSeek related volatility continued,” noted Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
US equity indices closed higher Thursday shortly before Apple reported that sales growth fell shy of expectations in the final quarter of last year. Focus later Friday turns to a fresh inflation reading from the United States. “There’s one more hurdle to get over this week as core PCE inflation data is released in the US,” said Mould. “This metric is a big factor in informing the decision-making of the Fed (on interest rates) so a surprise in either direction could make markets increasingly febrile again.”
The US Federal Reserve kept borrowing costs unchanged this week, in contrast to the European Central Bank which Thursday cut rates as growth stalls in the eurozone. Next week the Bank of England is widely forecast to trim its main interest rate, as the UK struggles to grow its economy.
The dollar rose Friday, including against the British pound, euro and yen. The greenback weighed more so on the Mexican peso and Canadian dollar, however, after Trump said he would go ahead with the threatened 25 percent tariffs on the countries pencilled in for Saturday. The US currency has been supported this week also by the Fed indicating that it did not see a need to cut interest rates further while the country’s inflation remained elevated.
– Key figures around 0945 GMT –
London – FTSE 100: UP 0.4 percent at 8,685.05 points
Paris – CAC 40: UP 0.4 percent at 7,974.67
Frankfurt – DAX: UP 0.2 percent at 21,777.48
Tokyo – Nikkei 225: UP 0.2 percent at 39,572.49 (close)
Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: Closed for a holiday
Shanghai – Composite: Closed for a holiday
New York – Dow: UP 0.4 percent at 44,882.13 (close)
Euro/dollar: DOWN at $1.0377 from $1.0392 on Thursday
Pound/dollar: DOWN at $1.2416 from $1.2420
Dollar/yen: UP at 154.65 yen from 154.38 yen
Euro/pound: DOWN at 83.58 pence from 83.67 pence
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 0.2 percent at $72.58 per barrel
Brent North Sea Crude: DOWN 0.3 percent at $75.64 per barrel
© 2024 AFP
