European stocks rose for a fifth day on Friday, capping the Dow Jones STOXX 600 Index’s best week on record, as lower oil lifted airlines and overshadowed a reduced sales forecast from STMicroelectronics NV.
British Airways PLC added 5.8 percent and Air France-KLM Group gained 3.8 percent as crude slid below US$52 a barrel. STMicroelectronics, Europe’s largest chipmaker, sank 5.1 percent, dragging down technology shares.
The STOXX 600 added 1.3 percent to 206.25, extending the rebound from a five-year low last Friday to 13 percent. Raw-materials producers, banks and insurers led this week’s gains on speculation government stimulus packages in Europe and the US will cushion economies from the financial crisis. The index still lost 7.1 percent this month.
More than US$30 trillion has been wiped off the value of global equities this year as credit losses and writedowns approached US$1 trillion in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
National benchmark indexes rose in 10 out of 18 western European markets on Friday. The FTSE 100 gained 1.5 percent. Germany’s DAX was little changed as Infineon Technologies AG declined. France’s CAC 40 increased 0.4 percent.
The rally in global stocks this week pushed the MSCI World Index up 12 percent, the biggest weekly gain since records began in 1970. The gauge of 23 developed markets still dropped 7.3 percent this month and is down 44 percent this year.
Europe’s inflation rate fell by the most in almost two decades to 2.1 percent this month and unemployment increased, adding to pressure on the European Central Bank to continue cutting interest rates to battle the recession.
British Airways increased 5.8 percent to 155.1 pence. Air France-KLM, Europe’s biggest carrier, added 3.8 percent to 10.20 euros. Iberia Lineas Aereas de Espana SA, Spain’s largest airline, gained 8.4 percent to 1.94 euros.
Crude oil for January delivery sank as much as US$3.32, or 6.1 percent, to US$51.12 a barrel in New York on speculation a potential OPEC production cut to support prices may fail to outweigh declining fuel demand amid the global recession.
Commerzbank AG climbed 4.9 percent to 7.22 euros after Germany’s second-biggest lender sped up its takeover of domestic competitor Dresdner Bank by as much as a year in a revised purchase valued at 5.1 billion euros (US$6.6 billion).
Dresdner’s owner Allianz SE jumped 9 percent to 65.21 euros. Commerzbank will pay Allianz 250 million euros as part of the new agreement to forgo an agreement covering potential losses on specific asset-backed securities at Dresdner.
Storebrand ASA, Norway’s largest publicly traded insurer, advanced 9.2 percent to 12.51 kroner after the government canceled the sale of Kaupthing Bank HF’s stake in the company.
Acergy SA, the UK-based provider of oil services, climbed 9.8 percent to 39.8 kroner after its outlook for next year exceeded analyst estimates.
Infineon Technologies AG, Europe’s second-biggest maker of semiconductors, dropped 4.2 percent to 1.85 euros.
Taiwan moved clear of Mexico to be the only country at No. 2 in the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Men’s Baseball World Rankings. Meanwhile, draft bills to set up a ministry of sports were approved at a joint session at the legislature in Taipei yesterday. After previously being tied with Mexico for second on 4,118 points, Taiwan moved clear on 5,498 points after they defeated Japan in the final of the WBSC Premier12 tournament on Sunday. Mexico (4,729) dropped to fourth, behind Venezuela (4,846), who finished fourth at the tournament. Taiwan narrowed the gap to first-placed Japan to 1,368 points from 1,638, WBSC
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol yesterday declared emergency martial law, accusing the opposition of being “anti-state forces intent on overthrowing the regime” amid parliamentary wrangling over a budget bill. “To safeguard a liberal South Korea from the threats posed by North Korea’s communist forces and to eliminate anti-state elements plundering people’s freedom and happiness, I hereby declare emergency martial law,” Yoon said in a live televised address to the nation. “With no regard for the livelihoods of the people, the opposition party has paralysed governance solely for the sake of impeachments, special investigations, and shielding their leader from justice,” he
GLOBAL SUPPORT: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the motion highlighted the improper exclusion of Taiwan from international discussion and cooperative mechanisms Taiwan yesterday thanked the British parliament for passing a motion stating that UN Resolution 2758 does not involve Taiwan, making it the latest body to reject China’s interpretation of the resolution. The House of Commons on Thursday debated the international status of Taiwan and unanimously passed a pro-Taiwan motion stating that the House “notes that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the political status of Taiwan or establish PRC [People’s Republic of China] sovereignty over Taiwan and is silent both on the status of Taiwan in the UN and on Taiwanese participation in UN agencies.” British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Parliamentary
HIGH ALERT: The armed forces are watching for a potential military drill by China in response to the president’s trip, with the air force yesterday conducting an exercise President William Lai (賴清德) is to make stopovers in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during his seven-day trip to the South Pacific, his first official visit since taking office in May, the Presidential Office said yesterday. Lai, accompanied by a delegation, is scheduled to depart for the South Pacific on a chartered flight at 4:30pm tomorrow, stopping first in Hawaii for a two-night layover before traveling to the Marshall Islands, an office official said. After wrapping up his visits to the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu, the president is to transit through Guam, spending a night there before flying to Palau,
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