European Shares Gain As Investors Await ECB Minutes

(RTTNews) - European stocks were slightly higher on Thursday, following three straight sessions of losses amid rising tensions in the Middle East and fading rate cut hopes.

In the wake of mixed views on inflation and interest rates by the European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers, investors now await the release of the ECB December meeting minutes later in the session for further direction.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent at 468.51 after falling 1.1 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX edged up 0.3 percent and France's CAC 40 added 0.4 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed with a positive bias.

The euro was trading higher for a second day running, tracking modest weakness in the dollar index.

Telefonica, S.A. a Spanish telecom company, Thursday fell slightly after announcing placement of a green bond for 1750 million euros.

Richemont jumped 8.2 percent after the Swiss luxury-goods company posted resilient sales growth in its fiscal third quarter.

Automakers were flat to slightly lower after industry data showed Europe's passenger car sales declined for the first time in 17 months in December.

J Sainsbury, a chain of grocery stores, rose half a percent after an announcement that it is exploring a number of options for its financial services division.

Mining giant BHP fell about 1 percent after flagging possible writedowns at its nickel unit.

Kier Group added about 2 percent. The construction firm said its performance in the first half of its fiscal year remained ahead of last year's.

Watches Of Switzerland plummeted 26 percent after the luxury watch retailer cut its FY24 revenue guidance.