European Stocks Close

European stocks rose for a fourth week as the region’s leaders agreed to address flaws in their bailout programs to ease the sovereign-debt crisis.

Colruyt NV (COLR) jumped 16 percent as Belgium’s biggest discount food retailer reported a surprise increase in profit. Barclays Plc (BARC) slumped 19 percent after paying a record fine to settle claims it sought to rig the London and euro interbank offered rates.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index (SXXP) climbed 1.9 percent to 251.17 this week, extending the longest stretch of gains since January, after policy makers eased repayment rules for Spanish banks,

National benchmark indexes climbed in all 18 western European markets this week.

FTSE 100 5,571.15 +78.09 +1.42% CAC 40 3,196.65 +144.97 +4.75% DAX 6,416.28 +266.37 +4.33%

Colruyt jumped 16 percent as the Belgian retailer reported a surprise increase in profit amid heightened price awareness among consumers.

Yara International ASA, the world’s biggest publicly traded nitrogen-fertilizer maker, and K+S AG, Europe’s largest potash producer, each surged 12 percent. Syngenta AG, the biggest maker of crop chemicals, rose 5.2 percent.

Marine Harvest ASA (MHG), the world’s biggest salmon farmer, advanced 12 percent.

Even after the measures announced at the European Union summit, bank shares posted the second-worst performance among the 19 industry groups in the Stoxx 600.

Barclays Plc, Britain’s second-largest bank by assets, slumped 19 percent for the biggest decline since August. The company will pay a record 290 million-pound ($455 million) fine after investigators found traders and senior managers “systematically” tried to manipulate Libor, the benchmark rate for $360 trillion of securities. Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc declined 11 percent.

Infineon Technologies AG slid 14 percent after Europe’s second-largest semiconductor maker said sales in the current quarter would miss its prediction. The company will probably reduce its profit forecast again, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., which downgraded the stock to neutral.