Europe's stocks shoot to record highs

(MENAFN- AFP) European stock markets shot to record highs Friday as a weaker single currency boosted companies' exports from the eurozone.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index shot up 1.06 percent on the day to close at 7,089.77 points, having risen as high as 7,095.36 during the session.

Frankfurt's DAX 30 index jumped 1.71 percent to 12,374.37 points, moving as high as 12,390.75 points during the day.

Meanwhile the CAC 40 in Paris rose 0.60 percent to 5,240.46 points, a seven-year high.

"It's been a day of multi-year and new record highs today, following on from the Japanese Nikkei nudging against the 20,000 level, its highest level in fifteen years," said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK.

"The German DAX and FTSE100 have also made new record highs today as the tumbling euro continues to push broader European markets higher, with the CAC40, and FTSEMib also hitting new multi-year highs."

In foreign exchange, the European single currency slid to $1.0606 from $1.0659 late in New York on Thursday.

A weaker euro makes eurozone exports cheaper for buyers outside of the single currency bloc.

The dollar has fought back against the euro in recent weeks as markets bet on rises to US interest rates later this year despite a clouded outlook.

The US central bank's last policy meeting showed a split over when interest rates should again start rising in the world's biggest economy.

Minutes from the March meeting published earlier this week showed that "several (Fed) participants" thought conditions were right for a June hike in the federal funds rate, which has been stuck near zero since late 2008.

Others deemed the economy would not be able to weather a hike until later in the year, while "a couple" said liftoff would remain unlikely until 2016.

While last week's US jobs data "was a big disappointment, the minutes from the Fed's last meeting suggest that they remain in hiking mode and may hike rates at some point this year, even if June now seems like a long shot", said Forex.com analyst Kathleen Brooks.

This week has meanwhile also seen improved optimism over Greece after the embattled eurozone nation made a scheduled 459 million euro ($495 million) loan repayment to the IMF on Thursday.

- GE, Apple help Wall Street -

In Asia, Tokyo's Nikkei dipped 0.15 percent to 19,907.63 points after earlier breaking 20,000 -- a level not seen since April 2000.

Hong Kong extended its rally by adding 1.22 percent, putting the gain over the past three days at more than eight percent.

Shanghai, which has almost doubled over the past year on hopes for fresh stimulus, rallied 1.94 percent to end at 4,034.31, its best close since March 2008.

Meanwhile in the United States, General Electric's announcement that it will largely exit financial services helped lift Wall Street.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.50 percent to stand at 18,049.3 points.

The broad-based S&P 500 rose 0.46 percent to 2,100.73, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index advanced 0.30 percent to 4,989.47.

GE surged 7.6 percent after announcing it had reached deals to sell $26.5 billion in real estate assets as part of a plan to pare off most GE Capital assets over the next 24 months.

The industrial conglomerate also announced a new $50 billion share buyback program.

Apple added 0.18 percent as the tech giant began taking orders for the Apple Watch. First deliveries will begin in nine countries on April 24.