European stocks surge on Greek relief; FTSE hits historic high

European stocks ended the week on a high today with London's FTSE surging past the 7,000 mark for the first time in history, after Greece pledged new reform plans and the EU offered two billion euros in emergency aid.
London's benchmark FTSE 100 index closed 0.86 per cent higher at 7,022.51 points, boosted by the British government's upbeat budget this week as well as an outlook for stronger growth.
Elsewhere in Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris also gained 1.0 percent to 5,087.49 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 added 1.18 percent to 12,039.37 points.
"Risk appetite increased after a fairly volatile week in the markets," said Myrto Sokou, senior research analyst at Sucden Financial.

"The softer US dollar supported the uptrend across global equity and commodity markets," added the analyst.
For Forex.Com analyst Fawad Razagzada, this is only the beginning of the FTSE's winning streak.

"I think that the ECB's QE programme and the record low interest rates across many developed economies, including the UK, combined with a much weaker oil price will spur economic growth in the eurozone -- the UK's largest trading partner -- and help push the FTSE to much higher levels in the coming months," he said.
British finance minister George Osborne on Wednesday raised the country's growth estimate to 2.5 per cent while slashing its deficit forecasts.

In foreign exchange activity, the European single currency climbed to USD 1.0845 from USD 1.0660 late yesterday in New York, pushing higher on the Greek news.
Traders moved into the single currency after Greece's deal with its key European partners, who agreed to finish work "as fast as possible" on completing its EU-IMF rescue programme.
And European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Friday he was making 2.0 billion euros of unused EU development funds available to Greece as it battles a cash crunch.
"Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras promised EU creditors that Greece is soon to present a detailed list of economic reforms to enable loans to continue and prevent the country running out of cash," said CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.