The Malta Independent on Sunday
Debt relief plan for Greece helps close Europe higher on Friday although down on the week
Stocks across Europe closed higher Friday, aided by data showing business activity picked up in the eurozone after a slowdown. Also helping sentiment was a eurozone agreement on a debt-relief plan for Greece after the country’s bailout ends, and the energy sector got a lift from a rally for oil prices.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was up 1.1% to end at 381.92, though it was still down 1.1% for the week. On Thursday, the Stoxx 600 fell 0.9% to mark its lowest close since April 25.
Early on Friday, eurozone finance ministers agreed to ease Greece’s debt burden when the country’s bailout ends in August. Greece now has another 10 years to pay back almost €100 billion of loans, about half the bailout total since 2010 and to lend another €15 billion, in part to help build a cash buffer.
Stocks rose at the open after services-sector figures for Germany and France, Europe’s first- and second-largest economies, beat expectations for June.
A “worrying slide in export order growth seen since the start of the year continued into June, with the latest survey’s anecdotal evidence highlighting quieter client interest from the U.S. and China,” said Phil Smith, principal economist at IHS Markit, in a statement.
IHS Markit data for the whole of the eurozone showed a cooling in manufacturing growth in June, though the composite PMI showed a pickup in overall business activity for the first month in five, buoyed by services growth.
Trade-related fears also were remaining in focus. A brewing U.S.-China trade war escalated in June, while the European Union’s own retaliatory tariffs on U.S. imports are set to go into effect Friday.
Meanwhile, the oil market was in the spotlight on Friday as OPEC and other major producers met in Vienna to hash out an agreement on crude supply. Crude futures traded sharply higher as Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries members agreed to raise output, but by an amount that appears likely to be less than traders had feared.