Europe’s stocks rose on Friday, propelled by banking and industrial stocks, while the technology sector got a boost from upbeat results from US megacaps.The Irish index of shares ended the week 0.5 per cent higher, lifted by gains in some construction and travel stocks.
London’s market rally continued on Friday as the FTSE 100 lifted to its latest record closing price, with the recent takeover frenzy continuing.In company news, NatWest rose despite revealing its profit slid by more than a quarter at the start of the year. The banking giant revealed an operating pretax profit of £1.3 billion over the first three months of the year, down 27 per cent from £1.8 billion the previous year, but also highlighted higher customer deposits.
Industrials climbed 1.8 per cent, led by a 11.4 per cent leap in Finnish engineering group Wartsila after first-quarter order intake and core profit beat estimates. Construction and materials led sectoral gains, up 2.1 per cent, with Saint Gobain’s shares 6.9 per cent higher. Other growth stocks also traded higher on the results, with Amazon.com and Nvidia up 2.9 per cent and 5.0 per cent , respectively.