European markets close higher after ECB head's recovery remarks

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) – European stock markets closed with gains on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) president provided assurance of economic recovery.

The STOXX Europe 600, which includes around 90% of the market capitalization of the European market in 17 countries, rose 2.04, or 0.44%, closing at 465.95.

London's FTSE 100 gained 11 points, or 0.16%, to 7,027, while Germany's DAX 30 added 35 points, or 0.23%, to 15,651.

France's CAC 40 was up 39 points, or 0.59%, to end the day at 6,622 points. Italy's Borsa Italiana FTSE MIB 30 jumped 201 points, or 0.78%, to close at 25,963.

Spain's IBEX 35 was the best performer of the day after soaring 1.14%, or 98 points, to 8,733.

ECB President Christine Lagarde said earlier the eurozone economy is recovering quicker than expected from the coronavirus pandemic amid fast vaccination, which enabled most sectors of the economy to reopen.

- Asian stock markets

Asian indices closed lower on Thursday for the fourth day in a row, after China said it will tighten controls on companies in Macau region, the freezing of bond buying and selling for the debt restructuring of the Chinese Evergrande Group, which operates in the real estate and real estate sector,

The Asia Dow, which includes blue-chip companies in the region, lost over 17 points, or 0.44%, to close at nearly 3,965 points.

Tokyo's Nikkei 225 stock exchange also fell 188 points, or 0.62%, to 30,323.

The Hang Seng, the benchmark for blue-chip stocks trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, posted a steep decline of 365 points, or 1.46%, to 24,667 -- the most among Asian indices.

China's Shanghai stock exchange plummeted 49 points, or 1.34% to 3,607 points.

However, Singapore rose almost 6 points, or 0.19%, to 3,064 points, while India's Sensex jumped 0.71%, or 418 points, to 59,141.

- US indices

After a lower opening on Thursday, US indices were on recovery while the Nasdaq climbing to positive territory.

The Dow Jones was down 20 points, or 0.05%, to 34,795 at 15.05 p.m. EDT (1905GMT), while the S&P 500 was flat at 4,478.

The Nasdaq increased 18 points, or 0.12%, to 15,180.

After a strong start to the day, VIX volatility index, also known as the fear index, reversed course by falling 1.4% to 17.92.

The dollar index rose 0.4% to 92.92, but the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose 2.2% to 1.333%.

Precious metals were down with gold losing 2.1% to $1,755 per ounce, and silver shaving 4% to $22.89.

Oil prices were up as Brent crude was trading at $75.71 per barrel with 0.3% gain, and West Texas Intermediate was at $72.61.