European shares touched three-month highs while the euro declined and Asian share failed to hold on to early session gains. Trading in the U.S. was closed for the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Helped by a rally in Infineon Technologies AG, shares in the Eurozone closed at three-month highs in their second consecutive session of gains. The pan-European STOXX 600gained 0.93% to close the session at 384,37, the highest since mid-August. The index rose 1.4% on Wednesday after news outlets reported that the European Central Bank is considering the expansion of the stimulus programs currently employed in the region as early as next month. Expansion policies tend to weaken a currency, as seen in the last two sessions. On Thursday, the euro stumbled down to seven-month lows against the dollar, trading at $1.0619. Compared to the Federal Reserve’s plans to tighten the market with an interest rate hike, the ECB’s current and future policies offer a stark difference. The disparity between the two policies adds to the downward pressure on the shared currency, but helped stock markets climb with the prospect of more easing. ECB officials are scheduled to meet next Thursday with investors eyeing any new hints for the timing of the central bank’s expansion of the current bond-buying program. The euro’s softness helped German stocks post gains for the second consecutive day. The DAX 30 added 151.23 points, or 1.35%, to trade at 11,320.77, its highest level since August 18. Thursday’s advances came after Wednesday’s 2.2% rally. The index was aided by a rally in Infineon Technologies AG NA O.N. (DE:IFXGn) shares, which have gained 12.85%. The German chip manufacturer has posted very strong quarterly results, helped in part by the recent acquisition of International Rectifier. The French CAC 40 rose 53.03 points, or 1.08%, to close at 4,946.02. The UK’s FTSE 100 added 55.49 points, or 0.88%, to close Thursday’s trading session at 6,393.13 as mining-related shares lead the gainers.
Asian shares reversed earlier gains, causing some indexes to extend their weekly decline. The broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside of Japan fell around 0.5 percent, extending its weekly losses to a total of 0.7%. The Japanese Nikkei 225 erased early-session gains to post a 0.3% decline, though the index is still on track to end this week with a 0.2% gain. The Shanghai Composite index shed 0.6%, putting the index at a 0.5% weekly decline.
This week’s major economic data releases conclude today with the release of a large number of Japanese data releases, including reports on inflation and employment. UK GDP will be released later during the day.