Friday’s opening of European stocks was largely positive as attention turned to the general election in the United Kingdom (UK).
In early morning trade, the Stoxx 600 index for all of Europe increased by 0.3%. The FTSE 100 index in the UK increased by more than 0.2% as investors responded to the election outcomes.
With gains of 0.6%, travel and leisure companies were the biggest gainers on Friday, with most sectors seeing positive trading. Among the few sectors that saw losses were chemicals stocks, which fell 0.2%.
Labour gained the necessary threshold to govern on its own early on Friday morning, and outgoing PM Rishi Sunak announced his loss. The country’s next prime minister will be Keir Starmer, the head of the center-left Labour party, who announced his win early in the morning.
Experts anticipate that the Labour win would eventually strengthen the British economy, especially in the homebuilding sector.
RBC Capital Markets analysts stated in a research note on Friday that if Labour’s election promises become law, it may usher in a “new age” for the UK housing market.
In response to the news of the Labour Party’s victory, traders on Friday saw an approximate 1% increase in the FTSE 350 household goods and home building index.
When examining specific equities within the industry, Taylor Wimpey, Barratt Developments, Bellway, and Persimmon all had gains of about 2%, while Persimmon’s shares increased by 2.9%.
In business news, Bloomberg News said on Thursday that sources close to the situation indicated that BNP Paribas, a French bank, and UBS, a Swiss lender, are allegedly interested in purchasing HSBC’s German wealth management division.
HSBC’s stock fell by almost 1% on Friday.
Markets around the Asia-Pacific region saw significant declines on Friday, with the Nikkei 225 in Japan retreating from its gains after surpassing 41,000 and setting new records.
In the United States, S&P 500 futures were essentially unchanged on Friday as traders braced themselves for the publication of a much anticipated employment data.
