European Stocks Close Sharply Higher On All-round Buying

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed sharply higher on Friday as investors indulged in some hectic buying across the board almost right through the day's session.

Expectations that China would relax its Covid-19 restrictions, and slightly easing concerns about a sharp rate hike by the Fed after data showed an uptick in U.S. unemployment rate in October, and firm commodity prices contributed to the buoyancy in the European markets.

Investors digested a slew of economic data from the region, and the latest batch of earnings updates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.81%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 2.03%, Germany's DAX advanced 2.51% and France's CAC 40 surged 2.77%. Switzerland's SMI posted a modest 0.72% gain.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Turkiye ended sharply higher.

Iceland, Norway and Spain posted moderate gains, while Denmark, Portugal and Russia drifted lower.

In the UK market, Anglo American Plc shares soared 11.1%. Prudential climbed nearly 9%, while Fresnillo, Rio Tinto, Endeavour Mining, Antofagasta, Rolls-Royce Holdings, HSBC Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, Burberry Group, Halma and Intertek Group gained 4 to 8%.

Standard Chartered, Melrose Industries, Next, ICP, B&M European Value Retail, Taylor Wimpey, Mondi and Fraser Group surged 3.3 to 4%.

BAE Systems ended lower by about 3%. Pearson, BT Group and Sainsbury (J) also closed notably lower.

In Paris, Faurecia gained more than 8%. Kering, L'Oreal, Valeo, ArcelorMittal and LVMH surged 5.5 to 7%.

Societe Generale shares gained about 2.5% after the bank posted a higher-than-expected net income in the third quarter.

Unibail Rodamco, Michelin, Saint Gobain, Teleperformance, Hermes International, Pernod Ricard, Veolia, Credit Agricole and STMicroElectronics also rallied sharply.

In the German market, Adidas soared more than 20%. Continental zoomed nearly 10%, while Vonovia and Covestro surged 7% and 6.7%, respectively.

BASF, Infineon Technologies, Siemens, Daimler, HeidelbergCement, Volkswagen, BMW, Deutsche Wohnen, Deutsche Post, Fresenius, Brenntag and Symrise gained 2.5 to 5%.

On the economic front, data showed the S&P Global Services PMI edging up to 46.5 in October, versus the previous month's 28-month low of 45.0.

Data showing S&P Global Services PMI for October at 51.7, higher than expectations of 51.3 added to the positive sentiment. The S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI however declined to 48.6 in October, declining from 48.8 in the previous month.

Data showed the S&P Global/CIPS UK Construction PMI rising to 53.2 in October, from 52.3 in the previous month. Markets were expecting a reading of 50.5.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's factory orders declined by more-than-expected 4% on a monthly basis, following a 2% fall in August. This was the biggest fall since March 2022. Orders were forecast to ease 0.5%.

Eurozone producer price inflation eased more-than-expected in September from a fresh record high in August, data released by Eurostat showed.

Producer prices climbed 41.9% year-on-year in September, slower than the revised 43.4% surge in August. That was just below the 42% increase expected by economists.

Data from U.S. Labor Department showed non-farm payroll employment in the world's largest economy jumped by 261,000 jobs in October after surging by an upwardly revised 315,000 jobs in September. Economists had expected employment to climb by about 200,000 jobs compared to the addition of 263,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

Meanwhile, the unemployment rate rose to 3.7% in October from 3.5% in September. The unemployment rate was expected to inch up to 3.6%.