LONDON (MarketWatch) — European shares climbed on Friday, with miners and banks gaining as investors continued to hope that the global economy has moved past the worst of its downturn.
The pan-European Dow Jones Stoxx 600 index rose 1.3% to 208.39, moving higher for the second straight session.
On a regional level, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 index rose 1.5% to 4,346.91, the French CAC-40 index moved up 1% to 3,226.69 and the German DAX index gained 0.1% to 4,841.20.
Asia markets ended higher to close out the week, and stock futures were pointing to a brighter start on Wall Street. U.S. markets got a boost Thursday from positive data that showed jobless numbers down and signs of improvement in the factory sector and in leading economic indicators. See Indications.
Among the mining shares helping along the advance in Europe, Lonmin added 4.8% and BHP Billiton traded up 2.5%.
Also higher in the sector, shares of Xstrata rose 4.2% as investors eyed a Financial Times newspaper report that shareholder Glencore could be mulling a flotation.
“We believe a Glencore-Xstrata get-together makes more sense than a separate Glencore IPO,” said analysts at Evolution Securities.
Financials were also on the move, with shares of Bank of Ireland up 9.5% and Standard Chartered up 3%.
Insurance firm Zurich Financial Services climbed 1.8% after it said that it had an estimated solvency I ratio of more than 180% at May 31. This compares with a solvency I ratio of 157% at March 31.
Both sectors have rallied since March on hopes that the economic backdrop is stabilizing.
Along these lines, home builder Taylor Wimpey said that it has seen continued stability in U.K. markets in recent months as well as an improvement in its North American operations.
“Whilst wider economic conditions remain weak and rising unemployment could still have an effect on our markets, the severe downside scenarios for which we have been planning now appear less likely to materialize,” the company said.
Shares of Taylor Wimpey rallied 8.9% in London.
Business ‘extremely poor,’ Porsche says
Still, automakers were lower, with investors focused on the action in Frankfurt.
Shares of Porsche Automobil Holding eased 0.7% as those of potential merger partner Volkswagen traded down 3.1%
Porsche said Friday that sales from August last year to April fell 15% to 4.64 billion euros. The high-end automaker plans to raise additional capital to obtain necessary business capital and to avoid future liquidity bottlenecks.
Porsche wasn’t optimistic for the short term, however, saying that it couldn’t make a reliable statement for fiscal year 2009 due to uncertainty expected to continue surrounding future market developments.
“In light of the extremely poor business in the first three months of 2009, we still believe that it will not be possible to match the earnings level of prior years,” it said.
Also in the auto sector, shares of Germany’s Daimler fell 1.4%.
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