(Reuters) – European shares were sharply higher and the single currency surged over 1 percent on Friday after euro zone leaders agreed a deal to stabilize the region’s debt markets and recapitalize its banks, easing the funding strains on Spain and Italy.
The deal caught markets by surprise, sending safe-haven German bonds and the dollar lower, while prices for gold, oil and copper rose by over 1 percent. Ten-year Spanish and Italian bond yields fell to 6.44 and 5.84 percent, respectively.
After an all-night session, the leaders of the 17-nation currency bloc agreed that euro-area rescue funds could be used for sovereign debt purchases without forcing countries to adopt extra austerity measures.
They also agreed that, once a single supervisory body for euro zone banks has been created, the funds could be lent directly to banks for recapitalization without penalizing existing debt holders.
“Definitely some good news for risk markets here, though it is not the ‘big bazooka’,” said Sean Callow, senior currency strategist at Westpac in Sydney, referring to a lack of a reference to the issuance of common euro bonds.
The euro soared 1.25 percent to $1.2595 on the deal, having earlier hit a high of $1.2628, some way above its low of $1.2407 touched on Thursday.
The FTSE Eurofirst 300 .FTEU3 index of top European shares opened 1.6 percent higher, helping send MSCI’s world equity index .MIWD00000PUS up 1.2 percent to 302.07 points, its biggest daily gain of the week.
(Reporting by Richard Hubbard; Editing by Will Waterman)
