European Stocks Close On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a positive note on Monday as investors continued to assess the potential impact of Donald Trump's second term as U.S. President on global financial markets and on the geopolitical front.

Markets also looked ahead to a slew of key economic data this week, including U.S. inflation data, Germany's inflation report and U.K. GDP data.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.13%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.65%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 1.21% and 1.2%, respectively, while Switzerland's SMI closed up 0.89%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed higher.

Iceland and Poland ended on a weak note.

Shares of defense companies moved up on expectations of increased defense expenditure in the U.S and other developing countries during Trump's presidency.

China-related luxury firms gained after China announced a five-year package totaling 10 trillion yuan ($1.4 trillion) to tackle local government debt problems.

In the UK market, Croda International rallied about 5.3% after the company agreed to buy back £1 billion of shares from the government.

Natwest Group gained 4% after it agreed to buy back £1 billion of shares from the government.

Rolls-Royce Holdings and Sage Group gained 3.4% and 3.2%, respectively.Lloyds Banking Group, ICG, DCC, Scottish Mortgage, Vistry Group, M&G, United Utilities, Airtel Africa, Smith & Nephew, IAG, 3i Group, Entain and Standard Chartered ended higher by 1.8 to 2.75%.

Schrodders moved up sharply after announcing it will reduce the size of its executive committee to streamline the firm and improve its performance after its quarterly trading update last week showed a marked outflow of funds and drove shares to sink by nearly 14%.

Endeavour Mining closed nearly 6% down. Fresnillo ended down 3.4%. Sainsbury (J) ended lower by 2.3%. Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Anglo American Plc, Marks & Spencer and Glencore lost 1.6 to 2%.

In the German market, Continental soared more than 10% buoyed by strong third-quarter core earnings. Rheinmetall, Infineon, Deutsche Bank, HeidelbergCement, Puma, Siemens Energy, Hannover Rueck, Commerzbank and BASF gained 2 to 4.3%.

Hannover Rueck shares moved higher after the reinsurer raised its full-year 2024 profit target to €2.3bn.

Daimler Truck Holding, Fresenius and Siemens Healthineers closed down 0.5 to 1.1%.

In the French market, Saint Gobain, Schneider Electric, Michelin, Legrand, Safran, Unibail Rodamco and Airbus Group climbed 2 to 4%.

Stellantis, BNP Paribas, Essilor, Kering, Vinci, Veolia, Eurofins Scientific, Air Liquide, Credit Agricole, Societe Genarale, Thales, Capgemini, AXA and Engie gained 1 to 1.8%.

STMicroElectronics closed down 1.7%. Carrefour, Vivendi, ArcelorMittal and Hermes International also closed weak.