By Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
FTSE 100 drives above 7,000 for first time
LONDON (MarketWatch) -- European stocks jumped Friday,
strengthening on the prospect that U.S. interest rates will stay
low for a longer period of time, and finding support as Greece said
it's drawing up another plan for economic reforms.
The Stoxx Europe 600 leapt 0.9% to 404.01, flirting with its
all-time closing high of 405.50.
All sectors advanced, led by gains among oil and gas and basic
resources shares. The groups benefited as a pullback in the U.S.
dollar(DXY) aided dollar-denominated prices for oil and metals.
U.S. oil futures
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-stay-choppy-ahead-of-rig-count-data-2015-03-20)(CLJ5)
climbed 5% and Brent crude futures rose more than 1%.
As investors digested the Federal Reserve's removal of the word
"patient"
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/fed-takes-step-to-rate-hike-but-scales-back-intended-pace-2015-03-18)
from its policy statement this week, "we're seeing bond yields in
the U.S. falling hard, we're seeing the dollar is falling hard and
stocks pushing higher, and all of these three elements belong to
the premise ... that there's more of a realization that the Federal
Reserve will keep rates unchanged for at least until September,"
said Ashraf Laidi, chief global strategist, at City Index Ltd.
The Stoxx 600 logged a weekly advance of 1.9%, marking a seventh
straight week of gains, with European stocks buoyed by the impact
of the European Central Bank's asset-purchase program.
The re-evaluation of the Fed's statement "is especially positive
for the stock market because it is ridding the rate fear as we near
earnings season," said Laidi.
Germany's DAX 30 leapt 1.2% to 12,039.37, its first win after
three sessions of declines. The index logged a weekly rise of 1.2%,
marking its 10th consecutive weekly gain. Analysts at Société
Générale analysts on Friday suggested now is the time to take
profit on the DAX
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/it-is-a-perfect-time-to-say-auf-wiedersehen-to-the-dax-30-2015-03-20).
The U.K.'s FTSE 100
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/ftse-100-edges-up-but-on-track-for-best-week-in-two-months-2015-03-20),
which is heavily weighted by energy and mining shares, surged 0.9%
to 7,022.51. That marked its first-ever close above the 7,000
level. France's CAC 40 ended 1% higher at 5,087.49.
Greece's Athex Composite ended up 2.9% at 744.42 as Greece's
Prime Minister Alex Tsipras said a revamped list of Greek
economic-reform proposals
(http://www.marketwatch.com/story/greece-will-toughen-up-reforms-stick-to-agreed-plan-merkel-2015-03-20)
will be sent to European officials within days. Greece last month
agreed to a four-month extension of the country's 240-billion-euros
($256 billion) bailout, but progress on necessary reforms has been
slow and Greece is still tussling with its creditors.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the new list of proposals
needs to stretch beyond the previous suggested measures. Merkel and
Tsipras were slated to meet in Berlin on Monday.
Topping the Stoxx 600, shares of National Bank of Greece SA
rallied 16.7%, Alpha Bank AE gained 13% and Piraeus Bank SA rose
5.3%.
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