Asia stock markets bounce back, Europe opens higher

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - Major stock markets in Asia bounced back Thursday to recover from losses earlier in the week, while European indices opened higher with strong earnings from major firms.

Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, rose 62 points, or 1.64%, to close at 3,851. Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock exchange gained 200, or 0.73%, to 27,782.

Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks traded on the Hong Kong stock exchange, soared 841 points, or 3.3%, to 26,315, while China's Shanghai stock exchange was up 50, or 1.5%, 3,411 points.

Led by the Hong Kong and Shanghai exchanges, all four indices posted losses earlier in the week amid the Chinese government's crackdown on tech companies over monopolistic practices and data security.

-Europe

In Europe, major indices opened the day higher with strong financial results from Royal Dutch Shell and Airbus.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 European countries, was up 0.33% to 463 points at 0950GMT.

London’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% to 7,065 and Germany's DAX 30 added 0.2% to 15,600.

France’s CAC 40 rose 0.6% to 6,650, while Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 added 0.67% to 25,430.

Spain’s IBEX 35 was up 0.78% to 8,801.

-Oil and aircraft

Royal Dutch Shell said earlier that its second quarter income attributable to shareholders was $3.4 billion, a dramatic recovery from a $18.1 billion loss in the same period last year.

With crude prices more than doubling year-on-year, the Anglo-Dutch oil major saw its revenue jump 86% to $60.5 billion from $32.5 billion year-on-year.

The company also announced share buybacks of $2 billion to be completed by the end of 2021, according to its financial results statement.

Airbus also announced earlier its consolidated revenue increased 30% year-on-year to €24.6 billion ($29.2 billion) in first half of 2021, from €18.9 billion ($22.4 billion) in the same period last year, "mainly reflecting the higher number of commercial aircraft deliveries compared to H1 2020."

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