European stocks extend 2007 high on Greek agreement; HSBC falls
By Bloomberg
European stocks climbed to a seven-year high after Greek creditors agreed to extend the nation’s bailout funds.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.3 percent to 383.56 at 9:48 a.m. in London and rose as much as 0.7 percent. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index surpassed a record close in intraday trading before slipping 0.2 percent as lower-than-projected profit at HSBC Holdings Plc pushed the stock lower.
“Clearly it’s disappointing,” said Kevin Lilley, who helps manage 15 billion pounds ($23 billion) as head of European equities at Old Mutual Global Investors U.K. in London, referring to HSBC’s results. “But that’s one company. Greece will still be an issue for the market for some time, but the market becomes desensitized to it. It looks like we’re not going to have the worst-case scenario. In this environment, people can focus on the underlying companies and the improvement in the underlying economy.”
The Stoxx 600 advanced for a third week, the longest stretch since the start of December, on optimism Greece and its creditors would come up with an agreement. The nation’s bailout terms were extended by four months, and Greece needs to complete by the end of a day a list of policies in return for the continued funding. Finance chiefs will then decide whether the proposals go far enough or trigger another round of emergency negotiations this week.
The nation’s ASE Index slipped 4.5 percent last week. The Greek market is closed on Monday for a holiday. Spain’s IBEX 35 Index climbed 0.8 percent for the biggest rally among 18 western-European markets after the OMX Copenhagen 20 Index.
Stock Swings
The wrangling in Greece has helped push Europe stock volatility higher. The VStoxx Index, which tracks expectations for equity swings, had a daily average of 25.4 this year through Feb. 20, or 39 percent greater than in 2014.
The Stoxx 600 advanced 12 percent this year through the end of last week as the European Central Bank announced quantitative easing. That’s sent the relative strength index, a measure of market momentum, above 70 and to its highest level since May 2013, a sign that the rally may have been too quick to maintain. The Stoxx 600 fell to a six-month low in June of that year.
The volume of Stoxx 600 shares changing hands was 20 percent greater than the 30-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
FTSE 100 Record
Health-care companies led the Stoxx 600 gains on Monday. The FTSE 100 advanced 0.4 percent to 6,943.61, surpassing its 1999 all-time high, before HSBC posted financial results. The stock with the biggest weighting on the U.K. index fell 4.9 percent.
Among other stocks moving on corporate news, PostNL NV jumped 9.4 percent after the Dutch company reported 2014 revenue was 4.25 billion euros ($4.83 billion), exceeding the 4.02 billion euros that was estimated. Lloyds Banking Group Plc gained 1.3 percent after the U.K. government sold a further 500 million pounds ($769 million) of shares, reducing its stake in the country’s largest mortgage lender.
Ladbrokes Plc dropped 6.5 percent after the Sunday Times reported it is closing about 50 betting shops.
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