European equities today recouped much of yesterday’s losses which were sparked by bomb attacks in London, following resilient performances in the US and Asia.
By the afternoon, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.0 per cent to 1,147.42, while Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax rose 0.8 per cent to 4,566.55. In Paris, the CAC-40 was 1.2 per cent higher at 4,271.66 and London’s FTSE 100 climbed 1.0 per cent to 5,207.8.
Having fallen more than 4 per cent in the immediate aftermath of the bombings, European markets turned around in the afternoon to finish less than 2 per cent lower.
In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 0.2 per cent to 10,32.23, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 per cent to 2,080.04.
Among the worst hit sectors on Thursday were travel and leisure, both of which rebounded on Friday amid spirited trading. French leisure group Accor, which had expressed an interest in the sale of the Tattinger group’s hotels, gained 2.4 per cent to €40.26.
Airlines Air France-KLM and Ryanair recovered 2.8 per cent to €12.77 and 2.1 per cent to €6.43 respectively. However, German airline Deutsche Lufthansa was sluggish, lifting only 1.1 per cent to €10.06 after suffering a 2.3 per cent drop on Thursday.
In France, Safran, a Paris-listed technology group that makes aircraft propulsion systems, rose 2.4 per cent to €16.92 helped by its shift to "hold" from "sell" by Deutsche Bank earlier this week.
Furthermore, Cap Gemini, the consulting and outsourcing group, benefited from positive reporting by Accenture and JP Morgan, trading up 2.7 per cent at 27.10 by the beginning of the afternoon.
Groupe Danone also rose sharply for the second day running, up 4.7 per cent to 79.25 before midday. However, rumours of an approach by Pepsico have been denied by Danone.
The debut of utility Gaz de France on the Paris bourse marked the world’s biggest initial public offering in three years. Shares were initially priced at €23.40, at the high end of an indicative range between €20.70 and €24. After lunch, shares were trading at highs of €28.05.