Europe: Stocks rebound at open

[LONDON] European stock markets rebounded at the start of trading on Wednesday, with the technology sector lifted by Apple's record earnings posted overnight.

London's benchmark FTSE 100 index of top companies jumped 0.71 per cent to 6,860.19 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 rallied 0.85 per cent to 10,719.40 points and the CAC 40 in Paris won 0.78 per cent to 4,660.45 compared with Tuesday's close.

Markets had closed lower on Tuesday, weighed down by anxiety over Greece's new anti-austerity leadership and unexpectedly disappointing US economic data that sent Wall Street sinking.

But after the close of US trade, Apple announced that its quarterly profit rocketed to a corporate record US$18 billion (15.9 billion euros) at the end of last year on booming sales of big-screen iPhone models, especially in China.

AFP