World stocks, euro surge after surprise EU summit deal

World stock markets rocketed on Friday, propelled by bank shares, and the euro surged against the dollar after an EU summit delivered surprise emergency measures to fight the eurozone debt crisis. Thye Madrid and Rome markets were the biggest gainers after emergency aid to crisis-hit Italy and Spain was announced following marathon talks at a summit to save the ailing single currency. And interest rates on Spanish and Italian 10-year bonds dropped on the easing debt concerns. "European equities are trading sharply higher this morning after intense negotiations between EU leaders lasting till early morning rather surprisingly yielded an agreement," said ETX Capital trader Markus Huber. In early deals, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rallied 1.47 percent to 5,574.85 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 2.62 percent to 6,310.13 points and the Paris CAC 40 spiked 2.76 percent to 3,134.63. Madrid rocketed 4.19 percent and Milan 3.72 percent. Among individual shares, Spanish bank BBVA soared 7.77 percent, French lender BNP Paribas rallied 6.26 percent and Deutsche Bank won 4.44 percent. British banks' gains were less robust after HSBC and Barclays were ordered by the country's financial watchdog to compensate businesses for "serious failings" over the sale of complex products. In foreign exchange deals meanwhile, the euro soared to $1.2588 from $1.2442 late in New York on Thursday. On European bond markets, the Spanish 10-year rate fell to 6.466 percent from 6.896 percent on Thursday and the Italian reference rate fell to 5.865 percent from 6.182 percent. Asia stock markets closed sharply higher, with Tokyo climbing 1.50 percent, Seoul winning 1.91 percent and Sydney closing up 1.23 percent. The accord struck in Brussels paves the way for the eurozone's 500-billion-euro ($630 billion) bailout fund to recapitalise ailing banks directly, without passing through national budgets and adding to struggling countries' debt mountains. But this would occur only after a Europe-wide banking supervisory body was set up, with leaders aiming for that to happen at the end of the year. It was also agreed the bailout funds would be used "in a flexible and efficient manner in order to stabilise markets," a reference to buying countries' bonds to drive down high borrowing costs that have crippled Spain and Italy. "This news means an advance towards a banking union and support for the financial stability of the euro, but the details still have to be decided," said Spanish brokerage Renta 4. "These measures together with the creation of a European banking supervisor and the advances to be made on fiscal consolidation undoubtedly mean some loss of sovereignty, which would be welcome if it finally meant taking the necessary decisions to lay the foundation for future, if not immediate, economic recovery." EU president Herman Van Rompuy hailed the deal as a "real breakthrough" that would calm financial markets and reshape the eurozone to prevent a recurrence of the debt crisis. German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to have dropped her insistence on recapitalisation funds to banks being channelled through governments. EU leaders also agreed a package of measures worth some 120 billion euros they hope would bolster growth in the recession-hit bloc. In a shock move, Italy and Spain had earlier threatened to block the "growth pact" unless they won concessions on short-term moves to help their economies. But the head of the eurogroup finance ministers, Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, said early Friday that the two countries had dropped their resistance in return for measures to stabilise their economies. Investors had low expectations from the summit, just one of many attempts to resolve the long-running euro debt crisis, and the deal took global markets by surprise.