WORLD> Europe
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WORLD> Europe
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European markets recover lost ground
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-10-09 20:13 LONDON - European markets on Thursday recovered some of Wednesday's hefty losses after a relatively steady performance in Asia overnight, with British banking stocks in particular enjoying a strong rally in the wake of the government's 500 billion pound ($865 billion) rescue plan.
European jitters appear to have been calmed by Wednesday's simultaneous interest rate cuts from the world's key central banks, even though lending between financial institutions remains limited.
By mid-morning London time, Germany's DAX was 136.99 points, or 2.7 percent, higher at 5,150.61, while France's CAC-40 was up 110.85 points, or 3.2 percent, at 3,607.74. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was also 136.90, or 3.1 percent, higher at 4,503.59. Britain's benchmark index was helped higher by a positive reaction to the British government's rescue package, with shares in the two most troubled banking stocks gaining plenty of ground. HBOS PLC stock was up 36 percent, while Royal Bank of Scotland added 18 percent. The goverment pledged some 50 billion pounds to buy stakes in the country's major banks, as well as underpinning bank finances by a further 450 billion pounds ($778 billion). "We are seeing a rally in British financials from the lows seen yesterday but there is still an unfolding economic crisis in the background," said ECU Group's Mackinnon. It wasn't just British banking stocks doing well today. In Germany, Hypo Real Estate Holding AG, which has received a government-sponsored rescue, was up more than 12 percent, Commerzbank AG bounced more than 9 percent and Deutsche Bank AG was nearly 6 percent higher. |
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