European shares hit five-month high as ECB to remove stimulus ‘carefully’
London — European shares hit a five-month high on Friday as one the biggest weekly drops in the euro this year buoyed investors’ moods. The euro fell after the European Central Bank (ECB) signaled it would tread carefully as it removes stimulus, and as the dollar kicked higher on signs that US President Donald Trump is pushing ahead with tax cuts and could install a more hawkish head of the US Federal Reserve. Stocks gains were also underpinned by strong earnings that boosted bank shares such as UBS and Royal Bank of Scotland, while tech stocks gained following upbeat earnings reports from US giants Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon.com. Europe’s STOXX technology index rose 1% to its highest in almost 16 years. The wider pan-European FTSEurofirst climbed 0.5% and eurozone blue chips were set for their ninth straight week of gains. "I think it’s a continuation of yesterday’s ECB update," said CMC Markets analyst David Madden. "Mr Draghi will certainly be happy with himself because he li...
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