European markets were higher again Friday, helped by talk of a plan to allow the US Federal Housing Authority to guarantee loans for delinquent subprime mortgage holders so that they can refinance their loans at better rates and avoid foreclosure, on the theory that the plan will help relieve chaos in the mortgage marked and improve consumer confidence.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 was up 1.12 percent to 1,532.34. Madrid’s IBEX added 1.16 percent to 14,479.8, while the CAC-40 gained 1.25 percent to 5,662.7 and the Dax was 1.57 percent higher to 7,638.17.
In the retail sector, luxury goods group PPR (Euronext: PPR) had the best day on the CAC-40 as it added 4.14 percent to €126.90.
The top spot on the Dax, meanwhile, was taken by chipmaker Infineon (FWB: IFX; NYSE: IFX), which gained 3.72 percent to €11.44 after US computer maker Dell (NAS: DELL; SEHK: 4331) reported strong results.
Other gainers included engineering group Siemens (FWB: SIE; NYSE: SI), which was 2.47 percent higher to €91.93.
Utilities were mixed.
Suez (Eurofirst: SZE; NYSE: SZE) added 1.8 percent to €41.74, while Eon (FWB: EOA; LSE: EON; NYSE: EON) gained 2.48 percent to €123.17 and Gaz de France (Euronext: GAZ) was up 3.95 percent to €36.80.
On the other hand, EDF (Euronext: EEN) was 0.75 percent lower to €74.12.
There were only two other losers on the CAC-40 on the session.
Retailer Carrefour (Euronext: CA) fell 1.5 percent to €51.37, while media group Vivendi (Euronext: VIV) had the worst day on the CAC-40 with a decline of 1.74 percent to €30.01 on slow earnings growth.
Retailer Metro (FWB: MEO) was the worst performer on the Dax with a delcine of 1.01 percent to €63.44.