BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks were sharply higher on Friday after the European Central Bank increased its emergency bond purchase scheme by a bigger-than-expected 600 billion euros to 1.35 trillion, fueling hopes of a faster economic recovery.
The benchmark DAX jumped 254 points, or over 2 percent, to 12,683 after losing half a percent in the previous session.
Banks led the surge, with Commerzbank climbing 6.6 percent and Deutsche Bank adding 2 percent.
Trade-sensitive automakers were also moving higher. BMW rallied 3.1 percent, Daimler surged 4.2 percent and Volkswagen advanced 3.9 percent.
Airline Lufthansa jumped 6 percent despite news that it will be replaced by real estate company Deutsche Wohnen AG in the DAX Index.
On the data front, Germany's manufacturing orders declined at a record pace in April, extending the trend from the previous month, as the coronavirus pandemic hurt demand severely, preliminary figures from the statistical office Destatis showed.
New orders in manufacturing fell a seasonally and calendar-adjusted 25.8 percent from March, when they declined 15 percent, which was revised from 15.6 percent. Economists had forecast a 19.7 percent slump.
This is the largest decline since the beginning of the time series in January 1991, Destatis said.
On a year-on-year basis, factory orders decreased a calendar-adjusted 36.6 percent year-on-year after a revised 15.4 percent decline in March.
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