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Europe ends on a good note
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October 9, 1998: 1:04 p.m. ET
A rocky week closes with sentiment still fragile on Europe's bourses
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LONDON (CNNfn) - In one of the rockiest weeks on record, European markets managed to end on a positive note, but there was plenty of action on the way.
The main story in Europe was the resignation of Italy's premier Romano Prodi. He lost a vote of confidence in Italy's lower house, although he will stay on as caretaker boss.
Milan's Mibtel was frightened by the prospect of increased political uncertainty and dropped 2 percent in early trading.
Such fears were short-lived, however. Investors shrugged off concerns, and by the close the index was off only 0.3 percent at 16,761.
The weaker dollar provided the background for Europe's buoyant mood, and there were interest-rate cuts later Friday in Ireland and Portugal to further pep up stocks.
London's FTSE 100 again proved more stable than the other major European markets. The blue-chip index fell less than its peer group Thursday, and rose a more gentle 2.65 percent, or 124.65 points, Friday to close the week at 4823.4.
In Frankfurt the Xetra Dax closed at 3,973.44, a rise of 111.35 points, or 2.9 percent.
France's CAC jumped almost 5 percent, 132.93 points, to 3092.9
Zurich's SMI bounced 125.3 points, almost 2.5 percent, to close at 5419.0
An overnight rally in Hong Kong set the tone for a positive day in Europe.
Dollar-biased stocks led the way as the U.S. currency stabilized after its dramatic decline Thursday.
Auto stocks in Germany were strong. BMW surged 7 percent, followed by Daimler-Benz, up 3.5 percent, and Volkswagen, up nearly 6 percent.
Third-quarter sales up 43 percent at software group SAP proved welcome. The group's shares soared more than 10 percent to 680 marks. Chemicals group BASF bounced nearly 5 percent.
In London defensive shares were out of favor. A downgrade from broker BT Alex Brown hit the food-retailing sector. Shares in Tesco, Britain's biggest grocer, fell 1.7 percent Friday. However, the shares are up more than 2 percent on the week.
Utilities also struggled as investors sought bargains among recent fallers, or stocks with a little more excitement.
Stocks with strong ties to Hong Kong did particularly well. Cable & Wireless jumped nearly 9 percent, and HSBC shares jumped nearly 12 percent.
Mining group Billiton rose only 1 percent Friday, but was up 13 percent on the week.
Lloyds TSB rose more than 8 percent on hopes of lower interest rates.
Financial stocks proved popular in Paris too. Paribas soared nearly 9 percent, followed by a 5.6 percent rise at BNP.
Top honors went to beauty products group L'Oreal, which posted a 10 percent rise.
Oil stocks Elf and Total recouped some of their recent losses. They both rose by around 5 percent.
In Zurich UBS continued its recovery. The bank's shares firmed 7 percent to 306 francs.
The positive sentiment was echoed in Europe's smaller markets. Stockholm and Helsinki, which took a beating Thursday, rebounded. Telecoms stocks Nokia, up 3 percent, and Ericsson, up 8 percent, recovered some of Thursday's falls.
Amsterdam's AEX index bounced nearly 3 percent, too. Financials led the way, and electronics group Philips more than retraced Thursday's 6 percent fall by jumping 8 percent Friday.
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