FAANGs come out to play in Halloween shares surge

Technology's biggest players, lumped together as the so-called FAANG stocks, have ended their October losing streak which had left investors spooked with just one day to go.

Netflix's share price saw the biggest gains out of the FAANGs grouping, rising almost seven per cent this afternoon off the back of better-than-expected results for Facebook last night.

The social media giant beat analyst estimates for its third quarter earnings by almost 20 per cent, despite user growth stagnating in North America and falling in Europe for a second quarter.

Facebook's own shares rose as much as 6.5 per cent as markets opened, but later calmed down to sit around the three per cent mark.

Google parent Alphabet rose more than three per cent, while Apple was up 2.7 per cent.

Amazon, which has been the worst hit of the group in recent weeks after missing estimates on profits and downgrading its outlook for the holiday period, gained a much-needed boost of more than four per cent.

The New York Stock Exchange's Fang+ Index, which also houses other tech favourites such as Twitter, Baidu and Tesla, rose more than three per cent. 

David Madden, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said that the tech sector's recovery was unsurprising with sentiment turning positive after it took the brunt of Wall Street's October woes.