* FTSEurofirst 300 up 0.7 pct, DAX up 1.8 pct
* Steel rally lifts market, outweighs bond concerns
* Rise in yields and euro currency weigh on equities
* Europe bourses in 2015: http://link.reuters.com
(Updates with closing prices)
By Sudip Kar-Gupta, Alistair Smout and Ahmed Aboulenein
LONDON/EDINBURGH, May 14 (Reuters) – European shares rose on
Thursday, helped by a rally in steel company stocks after a
report the European Commission had opened an anti-dumping
inquiry into cold rolled steel imports from Russia and China.
[L3N0Y55IT]
The European Commission has set tariffs on imports of
grain-oriented, flat-rolled electrical steel (GOES) following a
complaint lodged in June 2014 by the European steel producers
association, Eurofer. [L5N0Y41DM]
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 , which had
at one stage been down by as much as 0.8 percent, was up 0.7
percent to 1,581.43 points by the close.
Germany’s DAX .GDAXI , which hit a record high last month,
was up 1.8 percent. France’s CAC .FCHI rose 1.4 percent.
A pick-up this week in benchmark German and U.S. bond yields
had made equities look more expensive compared with debt. Some
investors trimmed equity positions to cash in on the earlier
stock market rally MKTS/GLOB .
But fears over the bond sell-off seemed to recede as the
rest of the market also recovered.
“If we look across sectors, the rally is fairly broad. The
concerns over the bond sell-off in Europe might be coming down
as expectations of deflation are lowered. People are pricing in
higher inflation now,” said James Butterfill, global equity
strategist at Coutts.
“Seasonally, yields tend to fall this time of year so the
recent sell-off has gone against the recent seasonal trends.”
Steel company Arcelor Mittal ISPA.AS was the best
performer on the FTSEurofirst, rising 5.7 percent, while rival
ThyssenKrupp TKAG.DE advanced 2.8 percent.
Stocks were however held back earlier as the dollar weakened
on signs that a slowdown in the U.S. economy at the start of the
year was stretching into the second quarter. The dollar’s
decline pushed up the value of the euro. FRX/
Italian luxury group Salvatore Ferragamo SFER.MI , for
example, fell to a one-week low. A stronger dollar helped sales
in the last quarter, although management said foreign exchange
volatility meant it was too early to say whether full-year
estimates would be met. [L5N0Y51IN]
Its decline was the biggest on Italy’s FTSE MIB .FTMIB ,
which was up 1.5 percent. The company’s shares were briefly
suspended after it slumped 5 percent.
Asset performance in 2015: http://link.reuters.com
Today’s European research round-up RCH/EUROPE
(Editing by Tom Heneghan)
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