Investing.com – European stocks rallied to a five month high on Friday, boosted by high earnings releases and Thursday’s European Central Bank decision to slowly ease back its asset share back program.
The ECB will reduce monthly purchases from the current €60 billion ($70.6 billion) to €30 billion ($35.3 billion) in January and will extend those purchases to the end of September 2018 or beyond.
The pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 rose 29 points or 0.82% as of 5:45 AM ET (10:45 AM GMT) while in London, the FTSE 100 rallied 19 points to 0.25%.
The Royal Bank of Scotland (LON:RBS) rose 1.07% after posting a higher than expected profit in the third quarter, while Provident Financial jumped 1.64% and Merlin Entertainments PLC (LON:MERL) increased 1.54%. Airline firm EasyJet PLC (LON:EZJ)was among the biggest losers, falling 2.51% while International Consolidated Airlines Group (LON:ICAG), the holding company of British Airways, dipped 4.78% after it posted a slowdown in passengers last quarter.
In Spain, the IBEX 35 fell 57 points or 0.56% as political uncertainty continues. Bank stocks were some of the hardest hit, with Santander (MC:SAN) down 0.72%, B. Sabadell (MC:SABE) slumping 3.48% and BBVA (MC:BBVA) falling 1.35%. Meanwhile electric and gas company Iberdrola (MC:IBE) was the top performer, rising 0.99%.
In Germany the DAX skyrocketed 104 points or 0.80%. Chemical firm Linde AG O.N. (DE:LING) increased 3.13% after it reported higher than expected earnings and car maker Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) rose 1.79% after its financial results beat forecasts while luxury car maker Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (DE:BMWG) gained 1.43%. Commerzbank (DE:CBKG) was among the biggest losers, dropping 1.61% while airline firm Deutsche Lufthansa AG (DE:LHAG) was down 0.56%.
France’s CAC 40 increased 53 points or 0.99% as airplane maker Airbus Group (PA:AIR) increased 2.09% and oil and gas firm TechnipFMC PLC (PA:FTI) plc rose 3.73% while wireless carrier Orange SA (PA:ORAN) jumped 1.06%. Meanwhile steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal SA (AS:MT) slumped 2.12%.
In commodities, gold futures dipped 0.06% to $1,268.80 a troy ounce and crude oil futures slumped 0.17% to $52.55 a barrel. The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six other currencies, rose to 94.75.