European Shares Edge Higher Ahead Of Easter Break

(RTTNews) - European stocks were seeing modest gains on Thursday ahead of a long Easter holiday weekend.

Major European markets will be shut for two days on Friday and Monday to celebrate Easter.

In economic releases, German retail sales posted an unexpected decline in February. Data from Destatis revealed that Germany's retail sales decreased 1.9 percent from January, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent.

On a yearly basis, retail sales decreased 2.7 percent in real terms, worse than economists' forecast of 0.8 percent drop.

The British pound edged lower against peers in the wake of dovish comments from BoE's Bailey about rate cuts.

Also, data released earlier today showed the U.K. economy contracted in the fourth quarter, as initially estimated.

Gross domestic product fell by unrevised 0.3 percent after a 0.1 percent drop in the third quarter, according to final data from the Office for National Statistics.

The statistical office thus confirmed a technical recession towards the end of 2023. Consequently, the economy grew only 0.1 percent in 2023, much weaker than the 4.3 percent expansion seen in 2022.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 513.03 after inching up 0.1 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent.

A decline in the euro to parity with the dollar beckoned ahead of critical U.S. inflation data release and Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Friday.

In corporate news, JD Sports Fashion jumped 6 percent. The British retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands said it expects full-year profit before tax and adjusted items to be in line with its outlook of 915 million pounds- 935 million pounds.

Renault rose 1.1 percent in Paris. Following a share buyback program announced by Nissan on March 27, Renault Group sold 99.13 million shares back to Nissan, or about 2.5 percent of Nissan's capital amounting to 358 million euros.

Casino shares plummeted 64 percent as the retailer announced the effective completion of its financial restructuring.

Spirent Communications soared 11 percent as the telecommunications firm agreed to Keysight Technologies' offer valuing the firm at 1.16 mln pounds ($1.46 bln).

Stratec SE shares fell 10 percent. The German maker of analyzer and automation systems for In-Vitro-Diagnostic registered a decline in net profit for the full year, due to a fall in sales and increased expenses.

Kontron, a IoT technology company, lost 4.4 percent after announcing its full-year results for the fiscal year 2023.