European shares closed higher on Friday as strong quarterly earnings boosted shares of SAP SE and EssilorLuxottica SA, offsetting a slump in miners.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.34 percent to 469.00, up 0.45 percent form a week earlier and clocking its fifth straight week of gains.
Business software maker SAP jumped 5.2 percent to its highest level in more than a year after reporting first-quarter revenue above analysts’ expectations and saying that it plans to use generative artificial intelligence in its products.
European technology stocks rose 0.9 percent, while healthcare shares rose 1.7 percent, with both leading sectoral gains.
EssilorLuxottica jumped 6.3 percent, among top boosts to the blue-chip EURO STOXX index, after the luxury eyewear maker reported a rise in first-quarter revenue due to a rebound in China-led growth.
“We’re seeing resilience with a lot of companies, but what we’re seeing is less really good news than not too much bad news,” AJ Bell head of financial analysis Danni Hewson said.
Miners were the biggest laggards, falling 3.8 percent, tracking copper prices lower on a lackluster demand outlook. The index hit a near one-month low.
News that Chile plans to nationalize its vast lithium industry, the world’s second largest producer of the metal essential in electric vehicle batteries, also hurt miners.
“The race to supply lithium is going to be an incredibly hard-fought one,” Hewson said.
Shares in Rio Tinto Group fell 5.8 percent after JPMorgan cut the stock’s target price.
Britain’s blue-chip FTSE 100 index edged up 0.15 percent to 7,914.13, posting a weekly increase of 0.54 percent.
It closed higher for a fifth straight week, marking its longest streak of weekly gains in over a year despite economic data reflecting a stagnating economy and elevated inflation.
However, its gains on Friday were curtailed by industrial miners. Keeping the export-focused FTSE 100 afloat were sectors such as food, beverages and tobacco and pharmaceuticals.
European stocks have gained more than 2 percent so far this month as fears of a banking crisis abated and investors looked ahead for the earnings season.
Economic recovery in the eurozone has unexpectedly gathered pace this month as the bloc’s dominant services industry saw already buoyant demand rise, more than offsetting a deepening downturn in manufacturing, surveys showed.
However, central bankers, including European Central Bank Vice President Luis de Guindos and Bank of Finland Governor Olli Rehn, maintained their hawkish stance.
PROTECTION: The investigation, which takes aim at exporters such as Canada, Germany and Brazil, came days after Trump unveiled tariff hikes on steel and aluminum products US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered a probe into potential tariffs on lumber imports — a move threatening to stoke trade tensions — while also pushing for a domestic supply boost. Trump signed an executive order instructing US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick to begin an investigation “to determine the effects on the national security of imports of timber, lumber and their derivative products.” The study might result in new tariffs being imposed, which would pile on top of existing levies. The investigation takes aim at exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil, with White House officials earlier accusing these economies of
EARLY TALKS: Measures under consideration include convincing allies to match US curbs, further restricting exports of AI chips or GPUs, and blocking Chinese investments US President Donald Trump’s administration is sketching out tougher versions of US semiconductor curbs and pressuring key allies to escalate their restrictions on China’s chip industry, an early indication the new US president plans to expand efforts that began under former US president Joe Biden to limit Beijing’s technological prowess. Trump officials recently met with their Japanese and Dutch counterparts about restricting Tokyo Electron Ltd and ASML Holding NV engineers from maintaining semiconductor gear in China, people familiar with the matter said. The aim, which was also a priority for Biden, is to see key allies match China curbs the US
Teleperformance SE, the largest call-center operator in the world, is rolling out an artificial intelligence (AI) system that softens English-speaking Indian workers’ accents in real time in a move the company claims would make them more understandable. The technology, called accent translation, coupled with background noise cancelation, is being deployed in call centers in India, where workers provide customer support to some of Teleperformance’s international clients. The company provides outsourced customer support and content moderation to global companies including Apple Inc, ByteDance Ltd’s (字節跳動) TikTok and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd. “When you have an Indian agent on the line, sometimes it’s hard
‘SACRED MOUNTAIN’: The chipmaker can form joint ventures abroad, except in China, but like other firms, it needs government approval for large investments Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) needs government permission for any overseas joint ventures (JVs), but there are no restrictions on making the most advanced chips overseas other than for China, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. US media have said that TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker and a major supplier to companies such as Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp, has been in talks for a stake in Intel Corp. Neither company has confirmed the talks, but US President Donald Trump has accused Taiwan of taking away the US’ semiconductor business and said he wants the industry back
RSS