© Reuters. A screen shows data for the German DAX on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange on Friday. Photograph: Reuters.
(Reuters) – European equities closed higher on Friday on upbeat signs from Wall Street which helped offset early losses from weak commodity prices and mixed corporate earnings reports.
After falling 1.1% earlier, the European index rose towards the end of the session to close up 0.1%, its highest level in five weeks.
The Wall Street indices were supported by Apple shares (NASDAQ 🙂 which showed better than expected results.
The Stoxx 600 index closed unchanged on Thursday after the European Central Bank raised interest rates as expected, but said it had already made “substantial” progress in trying to stem the historic rise in inflation.
The German index rose 0.2%, while the French index rose 0.5%.
Despite economic concerns, the Stoxx 600 Index recorded its best weekly performance in seven months, up 3.7%, after sentiment was bolstered by expectations of a slower pace of interest rate hikes and from better-than-expected earnings reports.
OMV shares jumped 9.3%, to the top of the index’s earnings list, after the Austrian energy group nearly doubled its core quarterly profit, driven by a hike and gas.
Shares of Air France KLM fell 13.1% after the company cut its forecast for its winter capacity.
Among the major sectors, mining companies took a hit as commodity prices fell amid concerns over the expansion of COVID-19-related restrictions in China.
(= 1.0056 euros)
(Prepared by Ahmed El-Sayed for the Arabic Bulletin – Edited by Mustafa Saleh)
