LONDON (AFP) – European stock markets edged upwards on Friday as traders digested news that the eurozone is free of recession, while British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia presented details of a merger. In late morning trading in Europe, London’s FTSE 100 index added 0.29 percent to 5,291.59 points. Frankfurt’s DAX 30 gained 0.23 percent to 5,677.08 points while in Paris the CAC 40 eased 0.10 percent to 3,804.12 near the half-way stage. The DJ Euro Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares increased 0.10 percent to 2,879.92 points. Europe’s deepest recession since World War II officially ended on Friday when the world’s biggest single trading bloc joined Japan and the United States in returning to growth, official data showed. Both the 16-nation eurozone and the 27-nation European Union as a whole, home to half a billion people, posted growth — of 0.4 percent in the mainstay single currency area and 0.2 for the whole EU in the third quarter. “The eurozone officially escaped recession by posting a positive gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate in the third quarter,” said Calyon analyst Frederik Ducrozet. “Germany and France had already escaped recession in the second quarter and now it is also officially the case for the eurozone as a whole, following a record series of five consecutive quarters of contraction in output.” But the fact that Britain still lags behind its main trading partners — with a 0.4 percent contraction — underlined the fragility of recovery, analysts said. Meanwhile, British Airways and Iberia announced late Thursday that the pair have reached a deal on a four-billion-pound (4.5-billion-euro, 6.6-billion-dollar) merger to create one of the world’s biggest airlines. BA needs to merge with Spanish carrier Iberia to retain its global ranking and avoid being sidelined as crisis drives airline tie-ups and cost cuts. BA would be the dominant partner. The deal will create a huge group, since Iberia is rich in routes to Latin America where several economies have strong emerging market status. BA chief executive Willie Walsh said his company did not want to be “left behind” after a series of crucial industry alliances from fierce European rivals Air France-KLM and Lufthansa. In another sign of the dramatic downturn, Spanish national carrier Iberia announced on Friday that it suffered third-quarter losses of 16.4 million euros (24.4 million dollars) as more customers shunned air travel. The merger news sent BA shares soaring 2.09 percent to 219.5 pence in late morning deals on Friday, after they jumped 7.5 percent the previous day in anticipation of the deal. But Iberia shares dipped two percent in Madrid. Elsewhere on Friday, Tokyo share prices fell 0.35 percent, dropping for a second straight day, as dealers tracked losses on Wall Street where fresh jitters emerged about the health of the global economy. Wall Street shares had weakened on Thursday as investors showed little reaction to generally positive economic and corporate news due to what one analyst called “rally fatigue.” Read this articl e: European stocks firm as eurozone escapes recession
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European stocks firm as eurozone escapes recession
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