European stocks rallied on Friday, with German equities leading gains after the country’s political parties agreed a historic deal to ramp up state borrowing.
Dublin
The Dublin market ended the week 1.7 per cent higher, hitting 10,934 by the closing bell.
Sentiment was largely positive across the board, with AIB and Bank of Ireland notching up gains of 1.2 per cent and 1.6 per cent respectively, while Permanent TSB added 3.6 per cent and insurer FBD was 1.1 per cent higher.
Food group Glanbia also had a strong showing, with its stock gaining 3.6 per cent to close the day at €10.57, while Kerry Group was half a per cent up over the day.
Insulation specialist Kingspan ended the day at €81.45, a 2.6 per cent gain.
Dalata Hotels and airline Ryanair also saw gains of more than 2 per cent each.
London
British stocks closed higher on Friday, driven by gains in defence and mining shares, ending a choppy week filled with uncertainty around U.S. tariffs.
The benchmark FTSE 100 gained 1.1 per cent, set for its best day in over one month. However, it fell on the week, pressured by U.S. President Donald Trump’s back and forth on U.S. tariffs, and downbeat quarterly earnings.
The midcap index gained 1.6 per cent for the day, but closed its fourth straight week in the red.
Aerospace and defence stocks rose 3.8 per cent, leading sectoral gains, after Britain announced a £2 billion boost in lending to other countries to buy British missiles and aircraft.
Melrose Industries was the top FTSE 100 gainer, up 6.4 per cent. Babcock International Group gained 4.3 per cent, boosting the midcap index.
Europe
The pan-continental STOXX 600 climbed 1.1 per cent on Friday, boosted by German equities as conservative chancellor-in-waiting Friedrich Merz said he had secured the crucial backing of the Greens for a massive increase in state borrowing.
Sectors expected to benefit the most from the reforms jumped after the news. European banks led gains with a 2.6 per cent advance, followed by the industrial goods sector that houses defence stocks.
Among other stocks, Kering slumped 10.7 per cent to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after its Italian luxury brand Gucci appointed Georgian designer Demna as its artistic director.
Universal Music Group (UMG) sank 8.8 per cent after Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square cut its stake in the company.
New York
US equities staged a modest recovery on Friday, after a turbulent week marked by a broad sell-off as investors assessed the economic fallout of the Trump administration’s chaotic trade policies, putting big indexes on track for weekly losses.
The technology sector, which bore the brunt of the sell-off, spearheaded sectoral gains with a 2.8 per cent rise.
An index tracking banks gained 2.9 per cent, while chip stocks such as Nvidia and Broadcom advanced, aiding the broader chip index’s 3 per cent rise.
The S&P 500 plunged into correction territory and saw more than $4 trillion in market value evaporate. The tech-heavy Nasdaq had already breached correction thresholds the prior week.
The blue-chip Dow, about 8 per cent shy of its recent record peak, is on the brink of its worst week in two years, should current losses persist.
By afternoon trading the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 615.60 points, or 1.51 per cent, to 41,429.17, the S&P 500 gained 106.20 points, or 1.92 per cent, to 5,627.72 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 410.02 points, or 2.37 per cent, to 17,713.03.
Investors flocked to safe-haven assets, propelling gold past the key $3,000 barrier for the first time in history.
Tesla added 3.4 per cent. A report said the carmaker would make a lower-cost version of its bestselling Model Y in Shanghai, aiming to regain ground lost during a price war in its second-largest market. Additional reporting: Reuters
