European shares rise on loosening lockdowns

Bourses in Britain, Germany and France recover some of last week’s losses

LONDON: European stock markets rose on Monday and oil prices climbed to their highest in two months as a loosening of coronavirus shutdowns boosted market sentiment, even though the deadly outbreak has yet to be fully contained.

Warm weather enticed much of the world to emerge from coronavirus lockdowns as centres of the outbreak from New York to Italy and Spain gradually lift restrictions that have kept millions cooped up for months.

However, the weekend also saw anti-lockdown protesters in countries such as the United States, Germany, England and Poland arguing government restrictions demolish personal liberties and are wrecking economies.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 2% at 1020 GMT, with heavyweight bourses in Britain, Germany and France all comfortably in positive territory, recovering some of last week’s losses.

“The resilience of stock markets relative to the awful economic data that we’ve been seeing over the past fortnight speaks to an optimism that... as economies come out of the lockdown we can expect to see improvements as we head into the second half of the year,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Governments must balance the economic incentive to re-open businesses with the risk of triggering a deadly second wave of the virus.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2020.

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