London: Europe’s top stock markets rebounded at the open on Friday, after Wall Street enjoyed a late surge to finish with impressive gains.
Approaching the end of a volatile and holiday-shortened Christmas week, London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index of major British blue-chip companies rallied 0.9 percent to 6,646.28 points.
In the eurozone, the Paris CAC 40 also leapt 0.9 percent to 4,641.05 points and Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained almost 0.7 percent to 10,452.02, compared with Thursday’s closing levels.
Volatility has reigned supreme as investors wrestled with worries over slowing global economic growth, trade wars, Brexit uncertainty and a US government shutdown, as well as President Donald Trump’s attacks on the Federal Reserve.
“This rollercoaster ride is unlikely to stop anytime soon as investors continue to wear emotions on their sleeve,” noted Oanda analyst Stephen Innes.
“Keep in mind that when markets start trading off the frenzy factor — as we’ve seen during the last 24 hours — extreme market moves can cut both ways,” he added.
Asian indices moved with caution on Friday after days of volatility on global markets failed to boost confidence.
Wall Street, after staging its best rally in nine years the day after Christmas, opened meekly on Thursday and losses accelerated following disappointing consumer confidence data.
However, a rally in the last 30 minutes caused the Dow to stage a comeback, ending up 1.1 percent at the close at 23,138.82 as worries over the economy gave way to bargain-hunting.
That was an impressive 870-point recovery from the low point of the session.
“The wild swings on the Wall Street were able to push the Dow Jones back in green yesterday,” noted ThinkMarkets analyst Naeem Aslam.
[source_without_link]AFP[/source_without_link]