European shares join global trade war relief rally

LONDON: European shares joined a global relief rally on Friday after after U.S. President Donald Trump fueled hopes among investors that a deal to end a prolonged dispute over trade could be made with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping later this month.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 1.2 per cent by 0827 GMT, hitting its highest since Oct. 10, although companies and indexes most exposed to trade surged further.

Germany's DAX jumped 1.6 per cent lifted by the big exporters among its constituents, such as car maker Volkswagen , up 3.6 per cent or Daimler, up 2.8 per cent.


The European automotive index was the best performing one in early trading, jumping 3.5 per cent and all other sectors were in positive territory except for telecoms.

Following Asia's lead, European tech stocks shrugged off Apple's disappointing results, which saw the iPhone marker's shares tumbled about 7 per cent after the bell.