LONDON: European stock markets climbed yesterday after Iran struck a landmark deal on its nuclear programme that will see sanctions eased on the key oil exporter.
The accord reached over the weekend in Geneva sent oil prices down, weighing on the share prices in energy groups but boosting airlines facing huge fuel costs.
London’s benchmark FTSE 100 index added 0.30 percent to 6,694.62 points, Frankfurt’s DAX 30 climbed 0.88 percent to a new record close of 9,299.95 points, while the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.55 percent to 4,301.97 points.
Brenda Kelly, senior market strategist at IG traders, said: “The fall-out has seen stocks for the major oil companies such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell take a tumble... (but) airlines have been clear beneficiaries of the pull-back in the oil price.”
IAG, parent of British Airways and Iberia, rallied 2.8 percent to 372.8 pence and Easyjet climbed 2.1 percent to 1,434 pence. Lufthansa advanced 1.8 percent to ¤16.06, and Air France-KLM added 1.9 percent to ¤7.64. BP fell 0.68 percent to 490.1 pence and Royal Dutch Shell ‘A’ shares lost 0.4 percent to 2,097 pence.
Shares in PSA Peugeot Citroen jumped 5.1 percent to ¤10.75 on Iran and expectations that the group would hire a top executive from Renault, dealers said.
In foreign exchange activity, the European single currency fell to $1.3496 from $1.3555 late in New York on Friday. But the euro reached 137.99 yen — the highest level since October 2009. It later settled back to 137.25, up marginally from Friday. The dollar hit a six-month high of 101.92 yen, then slid back to 101.70, up from 101.23 on Friday. The euro rose to 0.8363 pence against the British pound, which fell to $1.6137.
On the London Bullion Market, the price of gold climbed to $1,243 an ounce from $1,225.55 on Friday.
Asian stock markets mostly closed higher. Tokyo jumped 1.54 percent to a six-month high, Sydney gained 0.32 percent and Seoul added 0.49 percent. However Hong Kong ended virtually flat, while Shanghai lost 0.47 percent.
As well as from Iran, Asian traders took their cue from New York, where the S&P 500 ended above the psychologically important 1,800 level for the first time Friday. The Dow also closed at another record high, a day after it broke the key 16,000 level.
US stocks pushed even higher yesterday as they reacted to the temporary deal with Iran. In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.18 percent to 16,093.92 points. The broad-based S&P 500 edged up 0.06 percent to 1,805.80 points, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite rose 0.13 percent to 3,996.77. The Nasdaq briefly broke though the 4,000 barrier for the first time in 13 years. AFP
