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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Europe stocks follow Wall St higher on virus action hopes

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Europe stocks follow Wall St higher on virus action hopes
Europe stocks follow Wall St higher on virus action hopes

European stocks followed Wall St higher on Tuesday amid hopes for global action on the coronavirus, but a draft G7 communique seen by Reuters looked short on specific measures.

Julian Satterthwaite reports.

Hopes for global action on the coronavirus lifted stocks on Tuesday (March 3).

A day after Wall Street's Dow index posted its biggest one-day gain since 2009, European markets all opened in the green.

Benchmark indexes in London, Frankfurt and Paris were all up over 2% in early trade.

The battered travel and leisure sector was among the big gainers.

Shares in British Airways-owner IAG rose 5%, with Lufthansa up even more.

Quite what kind of coronavirus action will materialise though, that's still a big question.

Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 group of developed nations are due to hold a conference call Tuesday.

But a Reuters source says a draft statement by the group does not detail any concrete fiscal or monetary action.

Earlier, central banks in the U.S., Europe and Japan had indicated they could step in.

Though with interest rates already so low, some analysts question whether there is really much they can do.

Such doubts accounted for a mixed day for Asian equities.

While Shanghai closed higher, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index ended flat and Japan's Nikkei saw another loss.

Tuesday's mood was broadly positive though, with oil also buoyant.

Crude prices gained for a second day, up as much as 2% in early European trade.

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