European stocks rose this week, with the STOXX Europe 600 Index rallying the most in 10 months, after the EU unveiled a loan package worth almost US$1 trillion to contain the region’s sovereign-debt crisis.
A measure of banks in the STOXX 600 rallied the most since August, after the biggest fall in a year last week. ING Groep NV, the biggest Dutch financial-services company, surged 22 percent, while Banco Santander SA, Spain’s largest lender, gained 7.9 percent. BT Group PLC surged 19 percent after profit beat analysts’ estimates.
The STOXX 600 increased 4.8 percent to 248.46 this week, the biggest advance since July last year, as all 19 industry groups rallied. The gauge has still retreated 8.7 percent from this year’s high on April 15, and slumped 3.4 percent on Friday, amid lingering concern that the region’s debt crisis will hamper economic growth.
The bailout package “has allowed calm to return to financial markets by providing more breathing space for troubled euro zone economies to get their finances in better shape,” ING’s London-based economist James Knightley wrote in a report on Friday. “Individual economies are responding with Spain and Portugal announcing aggressive fiscal tightening measures, but success depends on the resolve of politicians and citizens. Consequently, confidence remains fragile.”
National benchmark indexes rose in all but one of 18 western European markets. Germany’s DAX added 6 percent, while the UK’s FTSE 100 increased 2.7 percent. France’s CAC-40 Index gained 5 percent. Greece’s ASE Index added 1.7 percent. Spain’s IBEX 35 gained 3 percent.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’