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Strong gains for European shares European shares lose early gains
(about 2 hours later)
European shares opened higher on Friday at the end of an extraordinary week of trading, taking heart from the gains on Wall Street on Thursday. European shares opened higher on Friday taking heart from the gains on Wall Street on Thursday, but retreated later in the morning.
The FTSE 100 rose 3.1%, the Dax in Frankfurt was up 2.5% and the Cac 40 in Paris was up 3.7%. The FTSE 100 was up 0.3%, the Dax in Frankfurt was unchanged and the Cac 40 in Paris was up 0.5%, having all earlier been up by more than 3%.
It followed gains of 4.7% in New York and 2.8% on Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index.It followed gains of 4.7% in New York and 2.8% on Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index.
The mood was helped by news from IBM, which said it expects to meet long-term profit forecasts and Google, which reported better-than-expected results. It comes at the end of a week of rallies and slumps, unseen since the crash of 1987.
Rallies and slumpsRallies and slumps
Stock markets have been rallying and slumping on alternate days as investors try to decide how severe the global economic downturn will be. Stock markets have been rising and falling on alternate days as investors try to decide how severe the global economic downturn will be.
"This is the most volatile week we've seen," said Thierry Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet in Geneva."This is the most volatile week we've seen," said Thierry Lacraz, strategist at Swiss bank Pictet in Geneva.
"The sole intelligent thing is to remain on the sidelines and not make any huge bets.""The sole intelligent thing is to remain on the sidelines and not make any huge bets."
Among other developments:
  • Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel on expectations that Opec would decide to cut production at its upcoming meeting
  • Share indexes in South Korea and Australia fell back slightly, though markets were relatively stable compared with recent gyrations
  • The Nikkei index climbed 235.37 points or 2.8% to end at 8,693.8, having lost more than 11% on Thursday
  • The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed barely changed
  • German bank shares were helped by news that the lower house of the German parliament had passed a 500bn euro ($672bn; £389bn) bank rescue package
Among other developments:
  • Oil prices rose above $72 a barrel on expectations that Opec would decide to cut production at its upcoming meeting
  • Share indexes in South Korea and Australia fell back slightly, though markets were relatively stable compared with recent gyrations
  • The Nikkei index climbed 235.37 points or 2.8% to end at 8,693.8, having lost more than 11% on Thursday
  • The Hang Seng in Hong Kong closed barely changed
  • German bank shares were helped by news that the lower house of the German parliament had passed a 500bn euro ($672bn; £389bn) bank rescue package
Eyes on New York
With Friday trading still to come, the Dow is 6.3% higher than it was at the start of the week.
In New York, the Dow Jones closed up 400 points on Thursday, although it had been down by as much as 400 earlier in the session.
It followed Wednesday's session, when it had also suffered its worst fall since 1987.
Overall, it has been an extraordinary week of volatile trading.
Tokyo's Nikkei 225 ended the week 5% higher than it had started, despite suffering its worst single day percentage fall since 1987 on Thursday, when it fell 11%.