European stocks, euro firmer

advanced 0,13 percent in choppy trading to 3 178,74 points.
Madrid rallied 1,21 percent and Milan 0,40 percent. In foreign exchange trading, the euro firmed to US$1,3191 from US$1,3134 in New York late on Thursday.
Wall Street shares also gained with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all up a half a percent in early trade.
“With no major US economic data scheduled to be released, all eyes will be on the IMF and World Bank meeting in Washington,”  said ETX Capital trader Markus Huber.
“While ahead of the meeting several countries have pledged substantial funds to increase the firepower of the IMF, there are still other important countries like Brazil and the UK who are not quite as forthcoming.
“Ongoing hesitation and wrangling about who should contribute what and how much might not prove very constructive as investors patience could run out rather sooner than later.”
IMF head Christine Lagarde said on Thursday that the crisis lender would get a significant boost to its intervention capacity this week as worries mounted that Spain might be the next eurozone country to seek a rescue.
Warning that “dark clouds” still hover over the global economy, she expressed confidence that International Monetary Fund members meeting in Washington would put up the funds needed for a “global firewall”.
Traders said optimism came from a resilient Germany where business confidence beat expectations to rise for the sixth month in a row in April.
The Ifo economic institute’s closely watched business climate index edged up to 109,9 points in April from 109,8 points in March, defying analysts’ expectations for a slight decline.
It is the sixth month in a row that the barometer has risen and it now stands at its highest level since July 2011.
“The latest renewed increase . . . signals once again that one should not underestimate the German economy and its resilience towards adverse effects,” UniCredit economist Andreas Rees said.
“Despite the renewed flaring up of concerns about the European debt crisis, (German) companies have been steering the course,” the analyst said. — AFP.