Fed

Ivaylo
30 Jun, 2006
New York City

European shares made strong gains on Friday after the US Federal Reserve

[R]6:30 AM European stocks surge after Fed’s dovish statement.[/R]
European markets traded higher on Friday. The U.K. FTSE 100 index gained 1% at 5,851, the German DAX Xetra 30 index advanced 1.4% at 5,658, the French CAC-40 index rose 1.3% at 4,941. The advance was broad-based, but energy stocks were among the leaders after strong gains for their US peers as crude prices advanced above $73 a barrel, closing in on the $75.35 record set in April. Norway’s Statoil gained 2.5%, while France’s Total added 1.5% and Finnish refiner Neste Oil climbed 2.1% . Top gainers also included technology companies including Ericsson, up 2.1%, and automakers such as Renault, 1.3% higher. European movers included Germany''s Siemens and Bayer after they struck a deal over Bayer''s diagnostics division. Industrial conglomerate Siemens gained 1% after it announced late Thursday that it has agreed to buy Bayer''s diagnostics unit for 4.2 billion euros in an effort to expand its healthcare equipment and services business. Bayer shares surged 4.1% after the news.

Light sweet crude oil for August delivery gained 18 cents to $73.70 a barrel, while Brent crude futures on the ICE Futures exchange in London advanced 11 cents to $73.11 a barrel. Gold advanced to a two-week high of $602.30 an ounce before easing to $600.10/600.80 by mid-morning trading, up from $592.00/594.00 late in New York on Thursday. The dollar extended losses across the board after the Fed''s latest policy statement signaled a pause in the central bank''s long monetary-tightening campaign. The euro bought $1.2702 in morning European trading, up from $1.2644 in New York late Thursday. The British pound climbed to $1.8330 from $1.8260. The dollar also fell Friday against the Japanese currency, slipping to 114.74 yen from 115.26 yen.

[R]5:15 AM Gold tries $600 an ounce level.[/R]
August gold closed up $7.90 at $588.90 an ounce at the NYME. During the session, the contract advanced as high as $594.90. July silver finished at $10.333 an ounce, up 17.8 cents, off of a session high of $10.50 an ounce. July platinum ended $27.50 higher at $1,205.70 an ounce. The most-traded September copper contract gained 13.4 cents to finish at $3.3210 per pound.

Crude oil futures continued their upward movement Thursday, topping $73 a barrel for the first time in two weeks, as gasoline rallied to highs not seen since the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. August natural gas fell 2.5 cents to settle at $6.135 a million British thermal units. On the New York Board of Trade, Arabica coffee futures finished lower, cancelling an early increase to a three-week high. July ended down 0.2 cent at 97.5 cents a pound. July futures on raw sugar in foreign ports ended down 0.04 cent at 15.63 cents a pound.