European Stocks Close Broadly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly higher on Friday although gains were just modest in most of the markets in the region.

Hopes that the Federal Reserve will start slowing the pace of monetary tightening from as early as next month have raised following yesterday's data from the Labor Department which showed consumer prices in the U.S. saw a smaller than expected increase in the month of October.

Markets also reacted positively to reports that China has eaased some quarantine rules for Covid contacts and relaxed restrictions for inbound travelers and flights.

The loosening of curbs came, a day after President Xi Jinping led his new Politburo Standing Committee in a meeting on COVID.

The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.09%. Germany's DAX gained 0.56% and France's CAC 40 surged 0.58%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.78% down. Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.06%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia and Sweden ended higher.

Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Spain and Turkiye closed weak.

In the UK market, Ocado Group soared nearly 14%. B&M European Value Retail, Prudential, Anglo American Plc and Antofagasta gained 5.5 to 8%.

Schrodders, Rio Tinto, Hargreaves Lansdown, ICP, St. Jame's Place, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Natwest Group, Kingfisher, Rolls-Royce Holdings, JD Sports Fashion and Harbour Energy advanced 3 to 5%.

BAE Systems tumbled more than 8%. GSK, Relx, AstraZeneca, Compass Group, Imperial Brands, British American Tobacco, Rentokil Initial, Bunzl, Experian and Diageo lost 2.5 to 6%.

In the French market, Atos climbed nearly 11%. Teleperformance surged 7.6% and Faurecia gained 6.6%.

Unibail Rodamco, ArcelorMittal, Renault, Air France-KLM, Capgemini, Valeo, Dassault Systemes, LVMH, Accor, L'Oreal, Kering, Saint Gobain and Hermes International gained 2 to 6%.

Thales ended more than 8% down. Sanofi ended lower by about 5.2%, while Veolia, Sodexo, Air Liquide, Carrefour and Safran lost 1 to 2.7%.

In the German market, HelloFresh zoomed nearly 12.5%. Zalando surged more than 11%. Puma advanced nearly 8%, Sartorius and Adidas moved up more than 6%, and Covestro gained 5%.

Deutsche Wohnen, BASF, Deutsche Post, Continental, Vonovia, Deutsche Bank, Daimler, HeidelbergCement and Fresenius Medical Care gained 2 to 4%.

Shares of steel producer Salzgitter rallied more than 12% despite reporting lower Q3 profit.

Deutsche Telekom, Bayer, Fresenius, RWE, Siemens Healthineers, MTU Aero Engines, E.ON and Infineon Technologies ended lower by 1 to 3%.

In the Swiss market, Richemont shares soared nearly 13% after the luxury goods group struck an upbeat tone after reporting higher half-year sales.

On the economic front, the UK economy contracted for the first time since early 2021 in the third quarter, first estimate from the Office for National Statistics showed.

Gross domestic product shrank 0.2% sequentially, offsetting the 0.2% gain in the second quarter. However, the pace of decline was slower than economists' forecast of -0.5%. The level of quarterly GDP was 0.4% below its pre-coronavirus level.

Germany's consumer price inflation accelerated to an all-time high in October, as initially estimated, on rising energy and food prices, final data from Destatis showed.

Consumer price inflation accelerated to 10.4% in October from 10.0 percent in September. The rate came in line with the flash estimate.

Energy prices alone surged 43% from last year as a result of the war in Ukraine and supply bottlenecks. In turn, food prices advanced 20.3%. Excluding energy and food, inflation was 6.5%.

EU harmonized inflation accelerated to 11.6%, in line with flash data, from 10.9% in the previous month.