European Stocks Close On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly higher on Thursday with those from the mining sector turning in a fine performance thanks to higher metal prices. A sell-off in retail stocks, tariff threats by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, and persisting concerns about inflation limited markets' upside.

Trading volumes were a bit thin as U.S. markets are closed in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100. A state funeral for the country's 39th president is taking place today.

Among the major markets in the region, the U.K. closed on a strong note with its benchmark FTSE 100 rising 0.83%. France's CAC 40 climbed 0.51%. Germany's DAX edged down 0.06%, weighed down by recent weak data on factory orders and retail sales.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.42%. Markets in Austria, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Russia ended weak, while Belgium, Finland and Ireland closed flat.

In the UK market, mining stocks Anglo American Plc, Antofagasta and Fresnillo climbed by about 3.25%. Rio Tinto advanced 1.8% and Endeavour Mining gained about 1.5%.

Compass Group, Smith (DS), Hikma Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, JD Sports Fashion, RightMove, IAG, Barratt Redrow, Games Workshop, Smith & Nephew, St. James's Place, Aviva, Weir Group and Informa gained 1.5 to 2.5%. HSBC Holdings, ICG, IMI, Bunzl, Shell and Spirax Group also closed notably higher.

Marks & Spencer tumbled 8.4% despite the company reporting a 5.6% jump in sales in the third quarter. Despite a 3.5% rise in sales, B&M European Value Retail plunged 8.6% as the company narrowed its profit guidance. Tesco came off lows and ended just slightly weak. The retailer said its Christmas sales grew 3.7%.

Greggs tanked more than 9% after announcing that it posted 2 billion pound sales in 2024, but saw a slowdown in like-for-like sales growth in the fourth quarter.

Entain closed down 4.4% and Sainsbury (J) ended lower by about 3.2%. Centrica, WPP, Kingfisher, Natwest Group, Hiscox, Associated British Foods and EasyJet closed lower by 1 to 1.7%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy rallied about 3%. Commerzbank, HeidelbergCement, Deutsche Bank, Sartorius and Fresenius gained 1.7 to 2.6%.

RWE, Zalando, Munich RE, Continental, Deutsche Post, BMW, E.ON and Infineon lost 1.5 to 2.5%.

In the French market, Teleperformance climbed nearly 4%. Eurofins Scientific, Safran, LVMH, Vivendi, Schneider Electric, Kering, Pernod Ricard, Danone, Legrand, Accor and Edenred gained 1 to 2.2%.

Renault, Michelin, AXA, Thales, Airbus Group, Societe Generale, Capgemini and STMicroElectronics ended with sharp to moderate losses.

On the economic front, UK permanent placements as well as vacancies declined at faster rates in December as companies evaluate the impact of tax hikes announced in the October budget, a report compiled by S&P Global showed.

Permanent placements declined the most since August 2023, the KPMG/REC Report on Jobs survey showed.

Data from Eurostat showed that Eurozone retail sales increased 0.1% in November over the previous month. Retail sales increased 1.2% in November over the same month in the previous year.

Provisional data from Destatis said Germany's industrial output increased 1.5% on a monthly basis in November, in contrast to the revised 0.4% decrease in October. Output was expected to grow moderately by 0.5%. Industrial production was 2.8% lower than in November 2023, following a 4.2% drop in October.

Germany's exports logged a monthly growth of 2.1% after October's 2.9% decrease. Shipments were forecast to climb 2%. On the other hand, the decline in imports worsened to 3.3% from 0.3% in October. Economists had forecast imports to grow 0.7%.

Consequently, the trade surplus increased to EUR 19.7 billion in November from EUR 13.4 billion in October.

On a yearly basis, exports decreased by an unadjusted 6.5% after a 0.4% gain. Likewise, imports slid 5.2% following a 4.3% rise.