Europe stocks end week higher helped by miners

AFP/TokyoEuropean markets rebounded yesterday to end the week on an upbeat note, boosted mainly by rising mining stocks, with Paris leading the pack of gainers. The Cac 40 in Paris finished the day 0.75% higher at 4,123.89 points — setting a new year high for the third time this week — while London’s FTSE 100 index of leading shares rose 0.26% to end at 6,499.99 points and Frankfurt’s Dax 30 won 0.19% to close at 8,391.94 points.Spain’s main stock index Ibex 35 reached an 18-month high at 8,821 points and the risk premium dropped down to 248 basic points.“The best performing sector has been basic resources after chatter in Asia markets that Chinese authorities might be looking to announce a new stimulus programme, though it has been the precious metals miners that have jumped the most with Randgold Resources and Fresnillo getting a turbo boost from a sharp rise in silver and gold prices overnight,” CMC Markets UK analyst Michael Hewson said.Mining giant Anglo American shot up 3.48% to 1,547,5 pence and Fresnillo jumped 4.2% to 1,172 pence. Glencore Xstrata rose 2.17% to 308.35 pence.In foreign exchange trading, the euro slipped to $1.3320 from $1.3346 late in New York on Thursday. The dollar rose to ¥97.61 from ¥97.36. Sterling steadied against the dollar and euro after rallying to multi-week highs on Thursday as traders increasingly bet on an earlier-than-expected rise to the Bank of England’s main interest rate. Sterling stabilised to 85.28 pence to the euro, having reached 85.05 pence on Thursday, the highest level for six weeks. It had also reached $1.5652, the highest for two months, and was trading at $1.5621 yesterday. The price of gold jumped to $1,369.25 an ounce yesterday on the London Bullion Market from $1,329.75 on Thursday. US stocks also rebounded into positive territory yesterday. In midday trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.08%, while the broad-based S&P 500 increased 0.04% and the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.36%.New housing starts grew to an annualised pace of 896,000 units, up from 846,000 in June. But starts remained shy of the pace of the January-March 2013 average of 957,000. The release on Thursday of data showing weekly US jobless claims had declined to their lowest level in six years had triggering stock sell-offs as investors saw the figures as a sign the Fed could begin to reduce its $85bn a month quantitative easing (QE) programme as soon as September.In Asia, India’s rupee plunged to a new low of Rs62.03 to the dollar and stocks plunged 3.97% in their sharpest single-day fall in nearly two years on fears that foreign capital could flow back to the US as the US economy improves. “The jobs data was a shock to the market, and put the whole tapering issue back on the front burner again,” said Hiroichi Nishi at SMBC Nikko Securities. Away from stimulus talk, the release on Thursday of data showing weekly US jobless claims had declined to their lowest level in six years had triggering stock sell-offs. Data yesterday showed that European car sales picked up in July, driven mainly by increased business in the key west of the region. A total 981,300 new cars were sold in the 27 EU member states in July, 4.9% more than in the year-earlier month, according to data compiled by the German sector federation VDA showed yesterday.Shares in French carmaker Renault ended up 1.3% to €62.09, while BMW ended 1.6% higher at €75.53. Meanwhile shares in French cosmetics giant L’Oreal climbed 0.4% to €129.45 on the proposed purchase of Chinese firm Magic Holdings International.