European Markets Climbed On Positive European GDP Results

(RTTNews) - The European markets ended Friday's session in positive territory. Investor sentiment received a boost from better than expected European GDP results. The results provided confirmation that the Eurozone is recovering. Investors also continue to watch the political situation in Italy, following the developments of the last few days.

Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta resigned on Friday, a day after the withdrawal of support for the coalition government by his own center-left Democratic Party (PD). Letta submitted his resignation to President Giorgio Napolitano at the Quirinale palace on Friday

A presidential statement said Napolitano will hold consultations on Friday and Saturday to nominate Letta's successor. The President is expected to ask the ruling Democratic Party's leader Matteo Renzi to form the next government, which will be Italy's third government in a year, reports say.

Letta was forced to resign after the Democratic Party national committee on Thursday called for a change in the Government leadership.

Chinese inflation remained unchanged at the lowest level since last May in January, as the underlying price pressures were subdued, giving leeway for the central bank to loosen policy to kick start a faster recovery. Consumer prices were up 2.5 percent in January from the prior year, the same rate of growth as seen in December, but slightly above the 2.4 percent rise forecast by economists.

The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased by 0.57 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.45 percent.

The DAX of Germany climbed by 0.68 percent and the CAC 40 of France advanced by 0.63 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. rose by 0.06 percent and the SMI of Switzerland gained 0.40 percent.

In Frankfurt, ThyssenKrupp increased by 3.83 percent. The steel giant reported strong growth in adjusted operating profit.

Morphosys fell by 4.34 percent, after Commerzbank downgraded the stock to ''Hold'' from ''Buy.''

Fraport gained 1.70 percent, following a positive broker recommendation.

In Paris, Societe Generale climbed by 0.92 percent, while Credit Agricole added 1.18 percent. BNP Paribas, which announced results on Thursday, dropped by 0.93 percent. BNP Paribas was downgraded to ''Neutral'' from ''Buy'' at UBS.

In London, Anglo American advanced by 0.91 percent. The mining giant reported a narrower net loss for full-year 2013, despite a write-down of about $1.9 billion related to its various mining assets.

Mining stocks exhibited continued strength, as metal prices continue to rise. BHP Billiton rose by 0.94 percent and Antofagasta gained 3.64 percent. Fresnillo increased by 5.31 percent and Randgold Resources added 1.86 percent.

Wm Morrison decreased by 0.97 percent, after Exane BNP downgraded it to "Underperform" from "Neutral."

Hikma Pharma now expects to report 2013 revenues ahead of its earlier outlook, due to strong performance of its Injectables and Generics businesses towards the end of 2013. The stock surged by 4.74 percent.

Eurozone's merchandise trade surplus increased in December from last year as exports grew at a faster rate than imports, preliminary figures released by statistical office Eurostat showed Friday. December's overall international trade resulted in a surplus of EUR13.9 billion, which was higher than the EUR9.8 billion surplus recoded a year earlier. Economists were looking for a surplus of EUR14.5 billion for December.

Euro area economic growth accelerated more-than-expected in the fourth quarter, gaining strength from almost all major economies in the currency bloc. The positive data has reduced the pressure on the central bank to take any immediate remedial measures to cushion growth and counteract slowing inflation.

Gross domestic product grew 0.3 percent sequentially, which was faster than the 0.1 percent rise posted in the third quarter, flash estimates from Eurostat showed Friday. The rate was also above the 0.2 percent forecast by economists. The economy expanded for the third successive quarter at the end of 2013, following six quarters of contraction.

German and French economic growth at the end of 2013 exceeded expectations, underpinned by investment and foreign demand, official figures revealed Friday. The data bodes well for the larger euro currency bloc that is struggling to see a stable expansion.

According to preliminary data from the Federal Statistical Office, German economic growth accelerated marginally to 0.4 percent in the fourth quarter from a quarter ago. The growth exceeded expectations for 0.3 percent growth.

Elsewhere, the French economy expanded 0.3 percent sequentially in the fourth quarter after stagnating in the third quarter. The growth figure was marginally above the 0.3 percent forecast by economists. The third quarter GDP figure was upgraded from 0.1 percent fall.

Import prices in the U.S. unexpectedly saw a modest increase in the month of January, according to a report released by the Labor Department on Friday.

The report said import prices inched up by 0.1 percent in January following a revised 0.2 percent increase in December. Economists had expected import prices to edge down by 0.1 percent compared to the unchanged reading originally reported for the previous month.

Additionally, the Labor Department said export prices rose by 0.2 percent in January after climbing by 0.4 percent in December. Export prices had been expected to tick up by 0.1 percent.

With severe weather curtailing manufacturing production in some regions of the country, the Federal Reserve released a report on Friday showing that U.S. industrial production unexpectedly decreased in the month of January.

The report said industrial production fell by 0.3 percent in January after rising by 0.3 percent in December. The pullback came as a surprise to economists, who had expected production to increase by another 0.3 percent.

After reporting a drop in consumer sentiment in the previous month, Thomson Reuters and the University of Michigan released a report on Friday showing that sentiment unexpectedly held steady in February.

The report showed that the preliminary reading on the consumer sentiment index for February came in at 81.2, unchanged from the final January reading. Economists had been expecting the index to drop to a reading of 80.2.