Home / Markets

Monday, November 24, 2008

European Shares Soar on Citi News; Asian Stocks Fall

Adam Samson

FOXBusiness

European shares skyrocketed Monday after U.S. regulators threw beleaguered banking giant Citigroup (C) a lifeline, while Asian markets closed largely lower.

Most European indices were sharply higher as shares of numerous financial companies rebounded on renewed confidence.

The Dow Jones Stoxx 600 -- which tracks a broad range of European stocks -- closed higher by about 8%. Country specific indices, such at the British FTSE 100, the German DAX 30 and the Parisian CAC 40 were all up by roughly 10%.

Among Europe’s most active stocks were financial firms including the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which closed up by 5% and Barclays (BCS), which closed higher by 10%. Nonfinancial companies, such as Vodafone (VOD), were also significantly higher

Asian stocks were mostly lower following Citi’s rescue. The Chinese Hang Seng closed lower by 2% and the Singapore Straits Times index closed off by about 3%. Japanese markets were closed due to a public holiday.

American markets were also solidly in the black. As of 2:42 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 318.11 points, or 3.95%, to 8364.53, the broader S&P 500 picked up 41.33 points, or 5.17%, to 841.36 and the Nasdaq Composite added 62.74 points, or 4.53%, to 1447.09.

In the foreign exchange market, the dollar dipped by about 1.7% against a basket of world currencies.

Commodity futures also saw considerable gains. Oil surged $4.65 to $54.58 while gold was higher by $29 to $821.