European equities markets were higher Friday, with gains coming on hopes that the economic recovery is proceeding in a healthy manner.
The FTSE 100 added 0.54 percent to 5,132.94 in London, while the FTSE 250 was 0.27 percent higher to 9,745.79 as the Office for National Statistics said that producer prices were down 0.3 percent in June, although the UK’s trade deficit was at its largest in four months in May.
Miners saw gains on higher metals prices, with Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) adding 4.05 percent to lead gains on the 100 after Citigroup upgraded the miner from “hold” to “buy”.
Not all miners saw gains, however, as African Barrick Gold (LSE: ABG) fell 1.52 percent, Randgold Resources (LSE: RRS) dropped 0.32 percent and Hochschild Mining (LSE: HOC) was down 3.55 percent for the worst performance in the sector.
Engineering services group Bodycote (LSE: BOY) led gains on the 250 and in London generally as it added 14.11 percent on a positive outlook.
Three constituents of the real estate sector led declines on the 100, with British Land Co (LSE: BLND) down 1.99 percent while SEGRO (LSE: SGRO) was 1.64 percent lower and Land Securities Group (LSE: LAND) dropped 1.53 percent.
Educational product vendor Promethian World (LSE: PRW) was down 3.76 percent for the worst performance on the 250.
Bookmaker William Hill (LSE: WMH) added 1.94 percent on a Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgrade from “neutral” to “buy”, while Ladbrokes (LSE: LAD) added 2.04 percent.
GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) ended even after earlier declines on a safety review of its diabetes drug Avandia by European regulators; a similar review by the US Food and Drug Administration is set to begin next week.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 0.64 percent to 1,022.11 while the CAC-40 and the IBEX each added 0.46 percent, to 3,554.48 and 10,127.3 respectively, and the Dax gained 0.49 percent to 6,065.24.
Markets in the Asia-Pacific region were higher to end the week Friday.
The Nikkei 225 added 0.52 percent to 9,585.32 in Tokyo, while the Topix index was up 0.02 percent to 861.21 and the Mothers market gained 0.95 percent to 395.86.
Oil company Inpex (TYO: 1605) dropped 12.82 percent after it said it aims to raise over $6 billion in an issue of new shares as investors worried about dilution of the value of their shares.
Most Japanese carmakers fell as Honda Motor (TYO: 7267) was down 0.3 percent even though a factory in China that makes the cars for export restarted production after settlement of a labor dispute.
Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203) was 0.32 percent lower and Nissan Motor (TYO: 7201) fell 1.08 percent, but Isuzu Motors (TYO: 7202) added 1.5 percent.
A weaker yen versus the euro helped the electronics sector, with consumer electronics giant Sony (TYO: 6758) up 0.91 percent while camera and copier maker Canon (TYO: 7751) added 1.02 percent and data-storage media manufacturer TDK (TYO: 6762) gained 1.2 percent.
The Taiex was up 0.5 percent to 7,647.25 in Taiwan and the Straits Times Index added 0.69 percent to 2,917.17 in Singapore, while in Australia the S&P/ASX200 was 0.91 percent higher to 4,396.3 and the Sydney Ordinaries gained 0.93 percent to 4,414.5.
South Korea’s Kospi was up 1.43 percent to 1,723.01 after the Bank of Korea raised its seven-day repurchase rate to 2.25 percent from 2 percent in the first interest rate increase in nearly 2 years after spending over a year at the record low 2 percent level.
The Hang Seng added 1.64 percent to 20,378.66 in Hong Kong, while the Shanghai Composite gained 2.31 percent to 2,470.92.
New York markets were mixed in midday trade, with the Nasdaq Composite seeing some gains on the news that search engine Google (NAS: GOOG) has been given permission to continue operating in China by the government there, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were little changed as investors waited for corporate earnings season to begin.
At just past 12:30 p.m. in New York, the Dow was down 0.04 percent to 10,135.06, while the S&P 500 had added 0.06 percent to 1,070.89 and the Nasdaq was up 0.21 percent to 2,179.98.
Prices for crude oil and metals were higher, with gold adding nearly $14 to trade at $1,210 per troy ounce in midday trade in New York.
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