By Sara Sjolin and Carla Mozee, MarketWatch
LONDON (MarketWatch)--Europe's benchmark stock index extended
gains into a fifth straight day on Friday, after erasing losses in
volatile afternoon action on the back of stronger-than-expected
U.S. jobs numbers.
The Stoxx Europe 600 ended 0.2% higher at 373.31, after trading
as low as 370.93 earlier in the day. For the week, the index closed
up 1.7%.
The turnaround came after the nonfarm-payrolls report from the
U.S. showed 257,000 new jobs were added to the economy in January,
beating analyst projections of 230,000. The unemployment rate,
however, climbed to 5.7% from 5.6%, as more people entered the
workforce. U.S. stock futures moved firmly higher after the
data.
In Europe, banks led the move north for the Stoxx 600, with
shares of Barclays PLC (BCS) up 2.7%, Bankia SA 3.1% higher and
Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA rising 3%.
The optimism over the U.S. jobs report wasn't enough to shift
all of Europe out of negative gear. Greece's Athex Composite closed
down 2% at 803.36, following a whirlwind week of meetings by Greek
officials as they laid the groundwork for debt-renegotiation talks
with international creditors.
Eurozone finance ministers have called an emergency meeting for
Wednesday to discuss how to get Greece and the rest of Europe
closer to a debt agreement. Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said
Greece won't accept any deal at the Eurogroup meeting that keeps
the bailout program as it is now, Reuters reported Friday. Earlier
in the week, Varoufakis stepped up his push for eurozone partners
to accept a bridge loan so Greece could have more time to
renegotiate, but Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Friday
killed any hope that eurozone governments will grant such
short-term financing.
Read: Greece and Germany can't even agree to disagree
The Greek index fell more than 3% on Thursday after the European
Central Bank restricted liquidity to Greek banks. On Friday,
National Bank of Greece shares were down 11%, Alpha Bank slid 12%,
and Eurobank Ergasias dropped 9.4%. Read: Greeks swiftly move
capital to Germany as crisis looms
But the Athens benchmark still posted an 11% weekly advance,
largely because of Tuesday's jump of 11% after Greece's finance
minister indicated the country won't ask the eurozone for a debt
haircut.
Among other European benchmarks, Germany's DAX 30 index lost
0.5% to 10,846.39, while France's CAC 40 index fell 0.3% to
4,691.03. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 index fell 0.2% to 6,853.44.
Tate & Lyle PLC moved sharply lower in London, with its
shares sliding 14% after the ingredients maker said it expects
full-year profit to come in below its previous forecast. Weak
performance in its bulk-ingredients unit in the third quarter is
likely to run through the fourth quarter, it said.
Germany engineering heavyweight Siemens AG (SIEGY) fell 1% after
saying it will cut about 7,800 jobs world-wide as part of a
restructuring program announced last year. The cuts will include
3,300 in Germany, which is considered the powerhouse of the
European economy. Siemens shares were off 1.4% in Frankfurt.
Shares of Fresenius SE lost 2.3% after Jefferies cut its rating
on the health-care group to hold from buy.
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