EU shares, euro open higher on hopes of ECB action on crisis

Both the euro and European shares opened higher Friday, with market sentiment underpinned by European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi's pledge to do "whatever it takes" to prevent a breakup of the euro, according to dpa. While the blue-chip eurozone eurostoxx 50 index edged up 0.3 per cent to 2258 points in early trading, the euro built on the more than 1-per-cent gains chalked up on Thursday to begin the final trading session of the week slightly higher at 1.2287 dollars. This came after Draghi told an investment conference in London Thursday that the ECB would secure the euro, consequently raising market hopes that the Frankfurt-based bank was planning new action to head off the eurozone crisis. His comments caused a strong reaction on markets with the euro briefly breaching the 1.23-dollar mark and the eurostoxx 50 ending the day up 4.26 per cent. Stocks on Wall Street also jumped with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing 1.7 per cent higher.