European Stocks Rally In The Final Hour, End Session On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - After struggling for direction till well past noon, European stocks climbed higher in the final hour of the session on Tuesday, with investors reacting positively to comments from ECB council member Klass Knot that the central bank might pause its tightening cycle sometime soon.

Worries about the slow pace of economic growth in China, and data showing a drop in U.S. retail sales and a dip U.S. industrial production in the month of June rendered the mood cautious till around mid afternoon.

Also, investors looked ahead to the release of UK inflation data for the month of June on Wednesday. Consumer Price Inflation in the UK is seen falling to 8.2%, from 8.7% in the previous month.

The pan European Stoxx 600 advanced 0.62%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.64%, Germany's DAX climbed 0.35% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.38% up, while Switzerland's SMI ended higher by 1.16%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Sweden ended higher.

Netherlands and Spain edged up marginally. Turkiye closed weak, while Denmark ended flat.

In the German market, Covestro rallied more than 5.5%. Zalando and Vonovia claimed 4.5% and 4.1%, respectively, and BASF gained 3.2%.

Puma, Continental, Bayer, Fresenius Medical Care, Fresenius and Sartorius gained 1.5 to 2.6%. HeidelbergCement advanced about 1.1%.

Siemens Healthineers, Deutsche Telekom, Porsche and Brenntag lost 1 to 2%.

In Paris, Sanofi, Michelin, Capgemini, Publicis Groupe and BNP Paribas gained 1.5 to 2%. Bouygues, TotalEnergies, ArcelorMittal and Safran ended higher by 1 to 1.3%.

Hermes International and L'Oreal both ended lower by about 1.4%.

In the UK market, Ocado Group soared more than 16% early on in the session after first-half results revealed a return to underlying profit. However, the stock pared a substantial portion of its gains and ended just 5% up.

Royal Mail surged nearly 5.5%. Taylor Wimpey, Persimmon, Barratt Developments, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Johnson Matthey, ICP, Kingfisher and Carnival gained 3 to 5%.

ITV, WPP, Just Eat Takeaway.com, Polymetal International, Melrose Industries, Mondi, J Sainsbury, Barclays Group, St. James's Palace and Lloyds Banking moved up 2 to 3%.

In the Swiss market, Novartis gained nearly 5% after the company raised its full-year earnings guidance and mapped out the planned spin-off of its generic medicines division Sandoz for early in the fourth quarter.