LONDON (ShareCast) - -US jobs figure cheers markets -Greek bond swap deal completed with 95.7% participation rate -Lagardere (Paris: FR0000130213 - news) sinks on disappointing earnings FTSE-100: 0.6% Dax (Xetra: ^GDAXI - news) -30: 0.79% Cac (Frankfurt: 924169 - news) -40: 0.40% Ibex 35 (Madrid: IBEX.MC - news) : -0.30% FTSE MIB (Milan: FTSEMIB.MI - news) : -1.11% Most major European equity markets rose through Friday as 85.7% of private lenders to Greece participated in the country's debt forgiveness programme and US jobs figures beat expectations. The Greek people saw the total amount of money they owe the private sector fall by over 50% as part of the deal that was crucial to unlocking further bailout money from Greece's partners inside the Eurozone. A tranche of that money was released this afternoon, with more expected at a meeting of Eurozone finance ministers on March 12. The closely watched US non-farm payrolls for February showed the American economy created 227,000 jobs in the month, ahead of the 210,000 figure analysts had forecast. To add to the sense of positive momentum, German exports in January showed a 2.3% increase over December. EQUITIES French media and aerospace conglomerate Lagardere aims to keep its core operating profit stable this year after posting a steep net loss in 2011. Its (Euronext: ALITS.NX - news) shares had fallen 6.1% by the close. The world's second largest industrial gases producer, Linde (EUREX: LIN.EX - news) , has increased its full-year dividend by nearly 14% after operating profit grew faster than expected in 2011. It ended the day 5.7% ahead. The strongest sectors on the Stoxx Europe 600 were: automobiles and parts (1.44%) and basic resources (+1.43%). MACROECONOMY German consumer prices rose by 0.7% month-on-month (2.3% year-on-year) in February, as expected. The German trade surplus improved to €14.2bn in January, versus the consensus expectation of €13.5bn. French industrial production rose 0.3% month-on-month in January (Consensus: 0.5%). Greek GDP contracted at a 1.3% quarter-on-quarter pace at the end of last year. OTHER MARKETS Front month Brent crude futures contracts had gained 0.49% by 16:48 in London, to hit $125.86/barrel. The euro/dollar had fallen by 1.24% by 17:50 in Frankfurt to $1.3111. BS
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