London (AFP) - Major stock markets rallied Thursday as traders toasted some strong earnings as well as takeover talk, offsetting concerns about the need for more interest-rate hikes to cool strong inflation.
London continued its march towards reaching 8,000 points for the first time, while there were even stronger gains for eurozone and Asian indices.
Leading the way in London was Asia-focused bank Standard Chartered -- its share price up over 10 percent in afternoon trading.
"Standard Chartered has surged to the top of the FTSE 100 on a report from Bloomberg that First Abu Dhabi bank is considering a $35 billion offer for the British lender," said Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor.
Also in London, shares in AstraZeneca rallied almost five percent after the pharmaceuticals giant posted rocketing annual profits.
Shares in Credit Suisse tanked, however, after Switzerland's second-biggest bank posted its biggest annual loss since the 2008 global financial crisis.
Mumbai-listed conglomerate Adani tumbled again -- this time by more than 11 percent -- after global stock index compiler MSCI said it was reviewing the status of equities in the group.
The business empire of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has lost more than $100 billion in value after US short-selling investment group Hindenburg Research accused it of artificially inflating share prices.
Disney was in focus as Wall Street opened on Thursday a day after the entertainment giant said it was laying off 7,000 employees.
The job cuts follow similar moves by US tech giants dialling back from a hiring spurt during the height of the Covid pandemic.
"The market seems pleased returning chief executive officer Bob Iger is grabbing the mouse by the ears and announcing a big shake-up at Disney judging by the share price action in after-hours trading," said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
The company's shares jumped 4.5 percent.
Wall Street's main indices all rose at the start of trading, with the Dow adding 0.7 percent.
"The stock market has retained its bullish bias, leaning toward an emphasis on positive news, and has not surrendered its willingness to buy on weakness," said market analyst Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com, with sentiment buoyed by a slew of earnings reports.
He pointed to a survey showing bullish sentiment among individual investors returning to the historical average, in part on rising hopes that the US economy will avoid a recession despite rising interest rates.
In currency trading, the pound jumped more than one percent against the dollar after the head of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said he needed to see more evidence that inflation is falling before loosening monetary policy.
The Bank of England, like its US and eurozone peers, has hiked interest rates repeatedly to bring down soaring inflation.
Key figures around 1430 GMT
London - FTSE 100: UP 0.7 percent at 7,941.80 points
Frankfurt - DAX: UP 1.1 percent at 15,577.71
Paris - CAC 40: UP 1.2 percent at 7,207.62
EURO STOXX 50: UP 1.2 percent at 4,257.89
New York - Dow: UP 0.7 percent at 34,191.01
Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 0.1 percent at 27,584.35 (close)
Hong Kong - Hang Seng Index: UP 1.6 percent at 21,624.36 (close)
Shanghai - Composite: UP 1.2 percent at 3,270.38 (close)
Euro/dollar: UP at $1.07 88from $1.0716 on Wednesday
Pound/dollar: UP at $1.2191 from $1.2071
Euro/pound: DOWN at 88.48 pence from 88.75 pence
Dollar/yen: UP at 130.43 yen from 131.42 yen
Brent North Sea crude: DOWN 1.4 percent at $83.94 per barrel
West Texas Intermediate: DOWN 1.4 percent at $77.36 per barrel
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