EU stock market firm before UK election
European stocks inched higher and the euro and the pound barely budged, as markets readied for a triple-dose of excitement – an ECB meeting, a British election and testimony by the ex-FBI chief fired by Donald Trump last month, Reuters reported.
Much has been made of the ‘Triple Threat Thursday’ but beyond the commentary on the outside risks from those events it was hard to see any real trepidation in prices, Reuters added.
Stock markets in London .FTSE, Frankfurt .GDAX and Paris .FCHI were flat to 0.2 percent higher helped by reports of another bank rescue, this time in Italy, and energy shares as oil steadied after 5 percent drop the previous day, according to Reuters.
Italy’s bonds cheered the banking sector talk and the pound GBP= and the euro EUR=EBS were at $1.2972 and $1.1259 respectively, the former near a two-week high and the latter just off a seven-month high.
The dollar was also in a holding pattern. The yen JPY= had landed a glancing blow overnight after stimulus withdrawal talk from a Bank of Japan policymaker, but the greenback had all but recovered as focus returned to the day’s main events, concluded Reuters.
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