European stocks, euro rise before G20 meeting

European stocks and the euro rose on Friday as traders shrugged off a credit downgrade to Spain before a weekend meeting of G20 finance ministers that will focus on the eurozone debt crisis. London's benchmark FTSE 100 index rose 0.88 percent to stand at 5,450.88 points in late morning trade. Frankfurt's DAX 30 rallied 1.16 percent to 5,983.58 points and in Paris the CAC 40 jumped 0.94 percent to 3,216.79. Madrid advanced 0.19 percent even though Standard & Poor's cut Spain's long-term credit rating by one notch to "AA-" from "AA" with a negative outlook, following downgrades to the country's top banks. The euro jumped back above $1.38 in London deals. "Equities are resilient today as the market continues to shrug off any negative news announcements," said Manoj Ladwa, a senior trader at ETX Capital. "A downgrade on Spain's credit rating has had little impact on investor sentiment as they continue to pick up stocks, albeit in reduced quantities." Finance ministers from the G20 bloc of leading economies pressured Europe's fragile banks to shore up their capital Friday as they gathered in Paris for tense pre-summit talks. Eurozone leaders were celebrating Slovakia's delayed ratification of new powers to the currency union's bail-out fund, but there was no respite from the crisis, with Spain's credit rating downgrade underlining the threat to banks. Japan and the United States have been pushing for Europe to come up with a detailed plan to prevent the eurozone's weakness from pushing the world back into widespread crisis and recession. "The G20 meeting finance ministers in Paris takes place with eurozone policymakers in a tight spot and markets expecting delivery of bank recapitalisation plans but the risk is that deadlines are missed and any plans prove inadequate or lack substance to resolve the problem," said VTB Capital economist Neil MacKinnon. "Spain's downgrade and Fitch's major banks rating warning highlights crisis risks for the near-term," he added. The euro on Friday jumped to $1.3802 from $1.3783 late in New York on Thursday. The dollar climbed to 77 yen from 76.85 yen, while gold prices rose to $1,675.98 an ounce from $1,656 on Thursday. Asia-Pacific stock markets closed mostly lower on Friday, with Tokyo down 0.85 percent and Sydney losing 0.92 percent. Shanghai fell 0.30 percent as data showed Chinese inflation eased only slightly in September. Analysts warned the small dip not be enough to lead to an easing of monetary policy. On Wall Street overnight, falling banking stocks dragged the US equity market down amid worry about fallout from a potential Greek default, but Apple and Google helped the Nasdaq gain for a fourth straight day. US retail sales data published on Friday "is expected to rise and thus give maybe a little bit of happy news for the markets after so much doom and gloom recently," said Simon Denham, analyst at traders Capital Spreads.