Markets boosted following EU deal
Investors flocked to the markets after European leaders delivered a long-awaited action plan to tackle the eurozone debt crisis.
The Iseq index of shares in Dublin went up by 2% after leaders agreed to bolster banks’ finances, allow banks to write-off 50% of Greek debt and to boost the eurozone bailout fund to one trillion euro.
The agreement comes after months of deliberation with EU heads of state coming under immense pressure to finalise a plan to prevent the crisis from pushing the continent back into recession.
Carsten Brzeski, analyst at ING Bank, said the three-pronged solution was “supposed to form a Euro-style bazooka”.
He added: “Even if it probably was not the final word on the crisis, it is again another important step in the right direction.”
Elsewhere, FTSE 100 Index was 2% higher, France’s Cac-40 was ahead 2.9% and the Dax in Germany jumped more than 3% after a strong run in Asia, where Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was 2.7% higher and Japan’s Nikkei was 2% higher.
