European Shares Rally As H&M Posts Surprise Q1 Profit
(RTTNews) - European stocks rallied on Thursday to hit a two-week high after Swedish retail giant H&M reported a surprise first-quarter profit and data showed Spanish inflation cooled to a twenty-month low in March on lower energy prices.
Investors shrugged off separate data showing that a measure of Eurozone economic sentiment unexpectedly fell in March.
The pan European STOXX 600 rose nearly 1 percent to 454.52, after having rallied 1.3 percent on Wednesday amid easing concerns over the banking crisis.
The German DAX added 1 percent, France's CAC 40 climbed 1.1 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.6 percent.
Retail giant H&M jumped 15.5 percent after reporting a surprise operating profit for the December-February period.
Danish wind turbine maker Vestas gained nearly 5 percent after winning an order in Brazil.
Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore rose 1-2 percent in London while oil & gas firms BP Plc and Shell both rose about 1 percent.
Petrofac shares soared 67 percent. The energy services firm and technology group Hitachi Energy have sealed a €13bn ($14.1bn) framework deal with Dutch-German transmission system operator TenneT to supply offshore platforms and onshore converter stations.
Online greeting cards and gift retailer Moonpig jumped 18 percent after backing its full-year guidance.
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