European stocks rose on Friday, recovering part of recent losses as investors seized on news that the New York Stock Exchange Group was to acquire the pan-European stock market Euronext.
The $10-billion (€7,8-billion) cash and stock deal, announced overnight in New York, will create the first trans-Atlantic securities market — to be named NYSE Euronext — and placed pressure on rival exchanges to consolidate, dealers said.
In Friday’s early European trading in Paris the CAC 40 index surged 1,25% to 5 009,09 points.
Frankfurt’s DAX 30 rose 1% to 5 764,41 points and London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares added 0,68% to 5 788,80 points.
The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of leading eurozone shares won 0,94% to 3 682,64 points.
In Paris trading, NYSE Group’s decision to acquire Euronext sent the share price of its European rival rocketing by as much as 3,7% to €70,75.
It later stood at €70,4, an increase of 2,18% from Thursday’s close.
“NYSE Group reached a definitive agreement to merge with Euronext, lifting the shares of the pan-European bourse operator,” analysts at the Sucden brokerage said.
“The merge puts more pressure on its rival European exchanges to look more seriously for partners.”
The 214-year-old NYSE trumped a competing bid by Deutsche Boerse, the German operator of the Frankfurt stock exchange, to acquire Paris-based Euronext, which operates bourses in Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels and Lisbon.
In Frankfurt trading, Deutsche Boerse shares rose 0,17% to €106,70.
The NYSE’s move also ups the ante for rival exchanges — chiefly the Nasdaq and Deutsche Boerse — to assemble their own deals to avoid being left behind in global consolidation.
Nasdaq has built up a 25,1% stake in the London Stock Exchange in recent months.
However, in London trading on Friday, the LSE dipped 0,62% to 1 115 pence.
Meanwhile, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) saw its share price make solid gains on Friday, a day after surging almost 5% following the flotation of the Bank of China.
The flotation resulted in a near-trebling of RBS’s £900-million stake in BOC, the second-biggest Chinese bank.
RBS shares rose 1,59% to 1 793 pence.
On Wall Street, US shares had staged a strong rally on Thursday when investor sentiment got a boost from the latest economic news appearing to show solid economic growth with inflation mostly in check.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0,82% to 11 260,28 points and the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite leapt 1,88% to 2 219,86.
The broad-market Standard and Poor’s 500 index advanced 1,23% to 1 285,71 points.
Analysts said there seemed to be improvement in sentiment, which was battered by the 3,1% slide for the broad market and a 6,2% loss for the Nasdaq in May amid heightened fears on inflation and slowing growth.
In Asia on Friday, Japanese share prices ended a rollercoaster week on an upbeat note after a late flurry of buying lifted the benchmark Nikkei index ahead of key US jobs data, dealers said.
Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei-225 index finished the week 1,84% higher at 15 789,31 points.
Hong Kong’s key Hang Seng Index closed up 1,71% at 15 912,71 points on strong gains in China Mobile and other Chinese telecom stocks as investors hunted for bargains after recent sharp falls, dealers said. – AFP