On European stock exchanges, the major indices were slightly up on Friday morning, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index reaching a new record level, driven by the rise in share prices of Standard Chartered and BASF.
Around 10 AM, the Stoxx 600 index was up 0.09 percent, at 495 points, thus on track for a new gain for the fifth consecutive week.
At the same time, the Frankfurt DAX index rose by 0.02 percent, to 17,373 points, the London FTSE index by 0.16 percent, to 7,696 points, and the Paris CAC by 0.09 percent to 7,918 points.
The biggest winner was the share of British bank Standard Chartered, with a price jump of 6.7 percent, after announcing it would buy back its own shares worth one billion dollars due to profit growth.
The share of the German chemical company BASF also significantly increased, reporting that it plans to further reduce costs by one billion euros this year and expects a recovery in core profit. This lifted the company’s share price by 1.5 percent and spurred a 0.7 percent rise in the chemical sector index.
However, investors are cautious, as it was reported that the German economy contracted by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter. Caution prevails ahead of upcoming statements from leading officials of the European Central Bank, including the bank’s president Christine Lagarde, as investors await signals regarding the further direction of monetary policy in the eurozone.
