European Stocks Close Higher On Soft Eurozone Inflation Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by data showing a less than expected increase in eurozone consumer price inflation.

Markets also benefited by comments from European Central Bank's Robert Holzmann that the central bank might initiate interest rate reductions as early as June as inflation might decline faster than anticipated. However, he cautioned against being overly preemptive compared to its US counterpart.

Uncertainty about an early interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve weighed on sentiment and limited markets' upside.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.29%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.03%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.46% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.29% up, while Switzerland's SMI settled higher by 0.19%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain and Sweden ended higher.

Greece and Turkiye closed weak, while Iceland, Poland and Portugal ended flat.

In the UK market, Fresnillo rallied more than 4%. Barclays Group, Standard Chartered, Natwest Group, Glencore, Weir Holdings, Marks & Spencer, DS Smith, Antofagasta and HSBC Holdings gained 1.5 to 2.5%.

Auto Trader Group, ICP, Vodafone Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Burberry Group, Royal Dutch Shell, Schroders and Melrose Industries also ended notably higher.

BT shed about 4.6%. RS Group, Admiral Group, Prudential, Smiths, B&M European Value Retail, Croda International, Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, Unite Group, Beazley, SSE and British American Tobacco lost 1 to 3.2%.

In the German market, BMW and Commerzbank moved up nearly 5%. Bayer, Infineon, Volkswagen, Deutsche Bank, Porsche, Covestro, BASF and Deutsche Post gained 1 to 3%.

Daimler Truck Holding, Beiersdorf, Continental, Hannover Rueck, Henkel, Qiagen, Munich RE, REW, Vonovia and Sartorius lost 1 to 2.2%.

In Paris, Saint Gobain, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Edenred, Hermes International, Thales, Credit Agricole, Renault and TotalEnergies advanced 1 to 2.3%.

Unibail Rodamco, L'Oreal and Stellantis ended sharply lower, losing 1.7 to 2.3%.

Flash estimate from Eurostat showed eurozone inflation softened in March, with the harmonized index of consumer prices registering an increase of 2.4% annually, slower than the 2.6% rise in February. Prices were forecast to climb 2.5%.

Likewise, core inflation eased to 2.9% in March from 3.1% in the previous month. On a monthly basis, the HICP moved up 0.8% in March.

Data from Eurostat showed the euro area unemployment rate came in at 6.5% in February, unchanged from January. The rate was seen at 6.4%. The EU jobless rate was 6%, also stable compared with January.