European stock markets ended the session on an upbeat note yesterday as Chinese growth data met analyst expectations, while Wall Street also traded higher despite weak US retail sales.
London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.63% to end at 6,586.11 points, while Frankfurt’s Dax 30 gained 0.27% to 8,243.81 points and in Paris the Cac 40 added 0.61% to finish at 3,878.58 points.
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) expanded by 7.5% in the April-June quarter, official data showed yesterday, a second slowdown in growth in a row.
While the figure was in line with a median forecast of 10 economists by AFP, it follows a series of weak numbers pointing to trouble in the Asian giant, fuelling concerns it could miss the government’s 2013 growth target.
China’s leaders have proclaimed a long-term goal of rebalancing the economy, and since coming to power as Communist Party chief in November and then state president in March, Xi Jinping has placed less emphasis on the traditional growth drivers of exports and investment, and more on consumer spending.
Stocks were helped higher yesterday also after Wall Street’s Dow and S&P 500 indices had finished at record highs ahead of the weekend — thanks to better-than-expected earnings reports from banking titans JP Morgan and Wells Fargo.
After a bumpy start on the back of a disappointing June retail sales report, US stocks rebounded.
In afternoon trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had won 0.06%, while the broader S&P 500 rose 0.13% and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite added 0.12%.
In foreign exchange deals yesterday, the euro fell to $1.3058 from $1.3066 late in New York on Friday. The dollar grew to ¥100.15 from ¥99.29.
The French sovereign debt market fell after a decision by Fitch rating agency late on Friday to downgrade its notation of French debt from the prized triple “A” status by one notch to “AA+”.
This made Fitch the third of the three main rating agencies to remove the top rating from France. The yield on French 10-year bonds edged up to 2.203% from 2.193%.
However, analysts said that investors scarcely reacted to the expected rating decision.
The price of gold climbed to $1,284.75 an ounce from $1,279.75 Friday on the London Bullion Market.
“With the Chinese economy still expanding at a healthy pace, it looks as if demand for raw materials will not drop off in the near term,” said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG trading group.