European stocks rise on record German growth

LONDON — European equities edged higher on Friday as investors went bargain-hunting after two days of heavy losses and welcomed record second-quarter economic growth in eurozone powerhouse Germany.Frankfurt stocks rose 0.16 percent, London won 0.57 percent and Paris added 0.38 percent in morning trade, trimming some of their opening gains.Global share prices had tumbled earlier this week as many investors ditched risky assets in favour of safe-haven trades amid rising fears of a double-dip recession."Savvy investors are cleaning up in the aftermath of the two-day sell-off, but we think the majority of buying has abated after the open," said trader Chris Purdy at Spreadex in London."Germany's outstanding GDP growth has provided a beacon of hope for the recovery in general though, as the economic powerhouse outshone other eurozone member states," he added.The German economy grew by 2.2 percent in the second quarter of 2010, the biggest quarterly expansion since reunification, official data showed Friday.And gross domestic product (GDP) rebounded by 4.1 percent in the three months to June compared with the second quarter of 2009.Other data showed that the French and Spanish economies also expanded in the second quarter, with modest growth of 0.6 percent and 0.2 percent respectively.CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson warned of a "two-tier" eurozone in which nations like Greece were still struggling -- but added that investor sentiment was still boosted by the German GDP figures."Germany's solid second-quarter growth, as it posted its largest gain in 23 years, merely serves to highlight the two-tier state of the eurozone, contrasting Greece's 1.5-percent contraction earlier this week," Hewson said."But it has given a timely boost to equities in what has been a pretty bad week, as the low value of the euro helped boost export growth in Germany," he added.In Asia on Friday, the Shanghai stock market won 1.21 percent, Sydney jumped 1.33 percent and Tokyo added 0.44 percent.Dealers moved to pick up bargains after

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