LONDON (ShareCast) - - Markets up on Chinese, US and UK data
- Eurozone jobless rate jumps to 15-year high
- French car makers get a pasting on low sales

Euro Stoxx 600 +1.46%
FTSE 100 +1.83%
CAC 40 +1.06%
DAX +1.53%
FTSE MIB -0.2%
IBEX 35 +0.43%

European investors pulled themselves together after a slump at midday to leave most major indices in positive territory by the close.

The tipping point appears to have been the release of manufacturing data from the US which showed the sector expanding more quickly than expected. The Institute for Supply Management’s factory index climbed to 53.4 in March from 52.4 in February.

This came after stocks were given an early lift by upbeat manufacturing data from China, where the nation's purchasing managers' index rose to an 11-month high of 53.1 in March, from 51 the month before. The UK PMI also increased to a 10-month high of 52.1.

It was not all good news though, Eurostat revealed this morning that unemployment across the Eurozone hit a 15-year high of 10.8% in February, compared with 10.7% in January and 10.0% in February 2011.

Younger workers have been hit particularly hard by the crisis in Europe, with the unemployment rate across the 27 member European Union reaching 22.4%. In Spain youth unemployment is now at 50.5%, just higher than Greece at 50.4%.

COMPANIES

A difficult day for French car manufacturers, new registrations in March dropped a whopping 24%, with the figures from the “national champions” even worse. Peugeot’s new car sales fell 33%, with Renault not far behind, with sales dropping 30%. The figures were affected by a difficult comparison year, with the French car scrappage scheme ending last March but that didn’t stop Peugeot and Renault leading the fallers in Paris.

French oil giant Total was rose 2.2% on reports it is preparing to return to the Elgin platform in the North Sea which suffered a leak last week.

Anglo-Spanish outfit (and the owner of British Airways) IAG (+3.4%) was flying high after the European Commission granted the authorisation needed for the airline to acquire British Midland Limited (BMI) from Lufthansa, adding that competition concerns were addressed by conditions that were part of the deal.

Sector peer Air France-KLM fell 1.2% despite the company saying it was to increase flying hours for its staff and expand the operations of its low cost Transavia arm as it seeks to return to profitability by 2014.

OTHER MARKETS

Brent futures for May delivery were up 1.22% by 16:44 in London at $124.38.

The euro was 0.13% down against the dollar at $1.3327 by 16:56 in London

BS

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