With Thursday’s Dow-led, trade war-ignoring growth carrying through the Asian session overnight, the European markets got the green light for more gains after the bell.
Investors have settled on the idea that the relationship between the US and China could be a lot worse than it currently is, which is perhaps more a sign of how dire things were looking than any notable olive-branching between the 2 superpowers. Regardless, the Dow Jones saw fit to rocket to a fresh all-time high on Thursday, generating enough run-off goodwill to prompt a strong open for Europe on Friday.
The FTSE, which was unable to whole-heartedly join in with yesterday’s rally due to the pound’s sterling performance, showed no signs of sluggishness as the session got underway. The UK index surged around 60 points, a move that allowed it to cross 7425 for the first time in over a fortnight.
It helped that the pound gave back some of Thursday’s retail sales-aided rise. Against the dollar sterling dropped 0.3%, causing cable to drift back below $1.323, while against the euro the currency fell 0.4%, leaving it a touch above €1.222.
As for the Eurozone, they followed in the footsteps of the FTSE. The DAX shot up 0.6%, lifting it to a 12400-plus 3 week peak, with the CAC climbing towards 5500 as it rose 30 or so points.
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