The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares ended up 1.2 percent at 999.59 points following a 3.3 percent fall on Thursday, which was it’s biggest daily decline in seven months. Across Europe, Britain’s FTSE 100 ended the day 1 percent higher; Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC-40 rose 1.3 and 1.2 percent, respectively. U.S. stock index futures were sharply lower on Friday, a day after markets were shut for the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. The benchmark Nikkei climbed 264.03 points to 9,345.55. It shed 3.2 percent on Friday to a four-month closing low, marking its fifth straight week of losses. The Topix advanced 3.6 percent to 839.94.

The European Union business lobby, yesterday called on the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to speed up negotiations. European businesses were getting frustrated over the slow progress in the Doha Round of Trade talks and Business Europe. The United Arab Emirates’ central bank has issued emergency credit facilities to banks in the region amid mounting fears that Dubai’s debt crisis would filter through to the rest of the Middle East. Yesterday, the bank issued a statement, saying it “stands behind local and foreign banks operating in the country” and would offer them a special additional liquidity facility. Iran defied heads of state last night, as it announced plans to build 10 new nuclear plants. Tehran said, in the next two months the Iranian nuclear agency will start work on five uranium enrichment sites, with five more to be set up at a later date. According to the Nomura/¬JMMA Japan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) released today Japanese manufacturing fell to a four-month low in November. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao yesterday restated the country’s long-standing position that the yuan currency’s exchange rate should be kept at a reasonable, balanced level.

Due for release today is the AUD HIA New Home Sales, GBP Gfk Consumer Confidence Survey, JPY Housing Starts, EUR French Producer Prices, GBP Mortgage Approvals, GBP Net Consumer Credit, GBP Net Lending Sec. on Dwellings, EUR Euro-Zone Consumer Price Index, CAD Quarterly Gross Domestic Product Annualized, CAD Gross Domestic Product.

By Greg Secker