PARIS, June 27 (Reuters): European stocks ended slightly higher on Friday, halting a week-long sell-off, with Airbus rising after sources said the European plane maker is set to clinch a deal with Rolls-Royce for A330 engines.
Airbus shares gained 1.6 per cent while Rolls-Royce shares were up 2.2 per cent after sources told Reuters Airbus is set to upgrade its A330 with engines provided exclusively by Rolls-Royce, opening a new chapter in the fight for wide-body jet orders with Boeing's 787 Dreamliner.
The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares ended 0.1 per cent higher at 1,371.29 points.
The index lost 1.7 per cent during the week, hurt by downbeat US growth data as well as worries over violence in Iraq, snapping a 10-week long run of weekly gains - its longest winning streak since mid-2012.
The week was also marked by investment outflows, with European equity funds suffering redemptions of $1.6 billion, their biggest outflows in over a year, according to data from BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research.
"The low-growth environment, flagged by the latest US and European data, is actually not a bad thing for equities," said David Thebault, head of quantitative sales trading at Global Equities, in Paris.
"In the long run, it forces asset allocators to switch out of fixed income, where the returns are extremely low, and into more risky assets such as stocks."
Thebault recommends buying convertible bonds as a hedge against a potential stock market correction, while maintaining exposure to a further leg-up in stocks in the longer term.
Europe shares post first weekly loss since April
FE Team | Published: June 29, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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