While you were sleeping: Europe extends ECB advance

Tuesday 27th January 2015

Euro zone markets rose as investors opted to focus on the improved outlook with the European Central Bank’s new asset purchase plan rather than Greek voters handing power to the anti-bailout Syriza party.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended the day with a 0.6 percent increase from the previous close. The UK’s FTSE 100 Index rose 0.3 percent, France’s CAC 40 Index advanced 0.7 percent, while Germany’s DAX Index climbed 1.4 percent.

In Greece, the Athens Stock Exchange General Index dropped 3.2 percent, after the leftist Syriza party led by Alexis Tsipras won Sunday’s elections. Syriza has called for renegotiations of the conditions of the country’s bailout package from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund.

Even so, investors were still riding high on the ECB’s monthly asset purchase plan of 60 billion euros, announced last Thursday. Indeed, a report showed German business confidence strengthened for a third month, with the Ifo institute’s business climate index rising to 106.7 in January from 105.5 in December.

“The market is treating Syriza’s win as an anti-austerity movement more than an anti-euro movement,” Sireen Harajli, a Mizuho Bank strategist in New York, told Bloomberg News. “The bigger picture is QE instead of Greece.”

While few expect Greece to break up the euro and leave the single currency, there is uncertainty nonetheless.

"The ongoing display of angst is that Greece removes itself from the euro zone. It's the unknown about things breaking up," Frank Davis, director of sales and trading at LEK Securities in New York, told Reuters. "We consider that a remote possibility, but it makes sense for us to take a pause and reassess our fundamentals."

In afternoon trading in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.04 percent. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.10 percent, while the Nasdaq Composite Index added 0.14 percent.

In the Dow, gains in shares of Chevron and those of McDonald’s, last up 2 percent and 1.2 percent respectively, offset slides in shares of Intel and those of Microsoft, down 1.9 percent and 1.4 percent respectively.

US Federal Reserve policy makers start their two day meeting on Tuesday, and investors will look for any clues that suggest a different take on the timing for an interest rate increase. After the previous meeting the Fed suggested rates won’t rise before the end of April.

Oil advanced after OPEC’s secretary general warned prices might climb as high as US$200 a barrel if producers did not invest in new supply.

“If you don’t invest in oil and gas, you will see more than $200,” Abdalla El-Badri said in an interview with Bloomberg News in London on Monday, without giving a timeframe. West Texas Intermediate rebounded from a drop of as much as 2.7 percent.

BusinessDesk.co.nz

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