European stocks post weekly gain
Monday, 15 December 2008
LONDON, Dec 14 (Bloomberg): European stocks rose last week, led by construction companies and commodity producers, on speculation a US stimulus plan will prevent a prolonged recession in the world's largest economy.
Lafarge SA, the biggest cement maker, and Holcim Limited climbed at least 11 per cent as President-elect Barack Obama said he is planning the most extensive public-works spending package since the 1950s. Rio Tinto Group, the third-largest mining company, surged 42 per cent after saying it will reduce debt. Gains in the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index were limited after the Senate rejected a $14 billion plan to rescue US carmakers.
The Stoxx 600 added 4.40 per cent to 198.22, bringing the rebound from this year's low in November to 8.80 per cent as governments from the US to India announced packages to buoy the global economy and prevent earnings from tumbling.
Stimulus "plans offer oxygen as we face an accumulation of bad news," said Pierre Nebout, a fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management in Paris, which oversees US$3.90 billion in stocks. "The market welcomes them," he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
The Stoxx 600 has tumbled 46 per cent in 2008 as almost $1.0 trillion in bank losses and writedowns froze credit markets and pushed the US, Europe and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II.
National benchmark indexes rose in all 18 western European markets this week except Iceland. Germany's DAX Index added 6.40 per cent. France's CAC 40 climbed 7.60 per cent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 increased 5.70 per cent.
Lafarge SA, the biggest cement maker, and Holcim Limited climbed at least 11 per cent as President-elect Barack Obama said he is planning the most extensive public-works spending package since the 1950s. Rio Tinto Group, the third-largest mining company, surged 42 per cent after saying it will reduce debt. Gains in the Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index were limited after the Senate rejected a $14 billion plan to rescue US carmakers.
The Stoxx 600 added 4.40 per cent to 198.22, bringing the rebound from this year's low in November to 8.80 per cent as governments from the US to India announced packages to buoy the global economy and prevent earnings from tumbling.
Stimulus "plans offer oxygen as we face an accumulation of bad news," said Pierre Nebout, a fund manager at Edmond de Rothschild Asset Management in Paris, which oversees US$3.90 billion in stocks. "The market welcomes them," he said in a Bloomberg Television interview.
The Stoxx 600 has tumbled 46 per cent in 2008 as almost $1.0 trillion in bank losses and writedowns froze credit markets and pushed the US, Europe and Japan into the first simultaneous recessions since World War II.
National benchmark indexes rose in all 18 western European markets this week except Iceland. Germany's DAX Index added 6.40 per cent. France's CAC 40 climbed 7.60 per cent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 increased 5.70 per cent.