Europe’s main stock markets closed higher yesterday as investors digested a raft of US economic data suggesting a recovery there is gaining traction and after oil prices fell sharply.
At the close of session, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.92 per cent to 7,144.45 points and the Paris CAC 40 added 0.44 per cent to 3,580.21 points.
In London, the benchmark FTSE 100 index bucked the trend and slipped 0.08 per cent to 5,940.72 points after Fitch lowered Britain’s long-term outlook to negative from stable, while confirming its top-level AAA rating.
Elsewhere, Zurich rose by 0.50 per cent, Madrid by 0.42 per cent, Brussels by 0.66 per cent, Milan by 0.85 per cent and Amsterdam by 0.57 percent. Lisbon fell by 0.44 per cent.
US stocks also gained after a jobs data release, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.33 per cent to 13,238 points.
The broad-market S&P 500 added 0.54 per cent to break the 1,400 threshold at 1,401.82 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained 0.56 per cent to 3,057.66 points.
“The better-than-expected US indicators allowed traders to maintain a certain optimism,” Saxo Bank analyst Alexandre Baradez said.
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped to 351,000 in the week ending March 10 from 365,000 the previous week, the US Labour Department reported.
“Steady levels near 350,000 for claims are very reassuring for the stock market right now,” Dick Green at Briefing.com said.
Wholesale inflation appeared subdued, according to the producer price index for February and manufacturing activity in New York state picked up for the fourth straight month in March, the Federal Reserve reported.
Paul Ashworth of Capital Economics said the various data “provided a little more evidence that the US economic recovery is strengthening”.
The European single currency rose to $1.3107 from $1.3030 late in New York on Wednesday.
The dollar fell to 83.25 Japanese yen from 83.67 yen on Wednesday.
On Wall Street shares of California-based gadget-maker Apple briefly broke through the $600 level, a day before the release of its latest iPad tablet, but later traded at $597.00, up 1.26 per cent on Wednesday’s close.
Apple shares have gained 57 per cent in the past three months and 73 per cent over the past year.
Trader sentiment was buoyed when crude oil futures dropped yesterday on reports, later denied, that Britain and the United States had agreed to release strategic crude reserves in a bid to cool high prices, analysts said.
Prices in London had dived by as much as four dollars in reaction to the reports but later trimmed losses as a government source strongly denied that an agreement had been struck between London and Washington to boost market supplies.