European Stocks Close Higher Again On Earnings, Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Wednesday, turned in another positive performance after recent gains amid rising optimism about interest rate cuts by central banks in the second or third quarter of this year. Fairly encouraging batch of corporate earnings updates too helped underpin sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.34%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.49%, Germany's DAX ended 0.37% up, and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.69%, while Switzerland's SMI surged 0.78%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain ended higher. Finland edged up marginally.

Austria, Iceland, Sweden and Turkiye closed weak. Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, IAG climbed about 3.75%. Beazley, EasyJet, RS Group, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Melrose Industries, IMI, Prudential, and Centrica gained 2 to 3.1%.

Informa gained more than 2%. The publishing and exhibitions company has lifted its share buyback program by 50 percent after a strong start to 2024.

Diageo, Marks & Spencer, Diploma, Smiths Group, Pearson, Natwest Group and Schrodders also ended sharply higher.

Shares of drug maker AstraZeneca gained 1.2% after the company said it has initiated a process to withdraw its Vaxzevria COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, citing weak demand and the surplus availability of new vaccines.

Ocado Group dropped nearly 4%. Phoenix Group Holdings, JD Sports Fashion, ICG, Glencore and Rio Tinto lost 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy soared 12.5% after the power equipment maker raised its 2024 guidance after posting strong quarterly results.

Shares of sportswear maker Puma surged nearly 11% after the company's first-quarter sales met expectations. Henkel gained about 3% after raising its sales and earnings outlook for 2024.

Fresenius Medical Care, Munic RE, MTU Aero Engines, SAP and Fresenius also ended notably higher.

Zalando ended lower by about 5%. Porsche, BMW and Continental lost 2.7 to 4.3%. Sartorius, Vonovia, Mercedes-Benz, Covestro, Daimler Truck Holding, Infineon and BASF ended down 1 to 1.5%.

In the French market, Alstom rallied more than 5%. The manufacturer of infrastructures for rail transport sector said it is planning a capital increase of about €1 billion ($1.1 billion) to shore up its finances.

STMicroElectronics, Carrefour, Schneider Electric, Safran, Saint Gobain, Eurofins Scientific, Capgemini, Legrand, AXA, Thales, Airbus Group, Publicis Groupe, Pernod Ricard, Bouygues, Sanofi, Vinci and Danone gained 1 to 2%.

Veolia, ArcelorMittal and Stellantis ended notably lower.

In economic releases, Destatis reported that Germany's industrial production dropped in March on weak consumer and intermediate goods output.

German industrial production declined 0.4% on a monthly basis, in contrast to the 1.7% increase in February. This was the first drop so far this year and the pace of decline was less severe than the expected 0.6% fall.

Meanwhile, Sweden's central bank lowered its policy rate for the first time in eight years and signaled another two more rate reductions during the second half of the year as inflation approaches the target of around 2% amid the weak economic activity.

The executive board of the Riksbank, led by Governor Erik Thedeen, decided to lower the policy rate by 25 basis points to 3.75%.