European Stocks Close On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a positive note on Tuesday despite paring most of their gains, as the mood turned a bit cautious past mid afternoon with investors looking for fresh signals.

The uptick came as investors bet on hopes U.S. technology major Nvidia will come out with an encouraging earnings update on Wednesday.

Investors also looked ahead to reports on manufacturing activity in major economies, and awaited the Jackson Hole Symposium in Wyoming where global central bankers are scheduled to meet on Thursday. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will speak at the symposium on Friday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.68%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.18%, Germany's DAX ended 0.66% up, and France's CAC 40 surged 0.59%, while Switzerland's SMI advanced 0.26%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher.

Norway, Poland and Turkiye ended weak.

In the UK market, Fresnillo climbed 5.5%. RS Group surged nearly 4%. Unite Group, Glencore, Antofagasta, Land Securities and Flutter Entertainment gained 2 to 2.5%.

Scottish Mortgage, Endeavour Mining, Anglo American Plc, Centrica, CRH, Kingfisher, Segro, Berkeley Group Holdings and Barratt Developments ended higher by 1.4 to 1.9%.

JD Sports Fashion ended nearly 7% down. Ocado Group drifted down 1.9%. Beazley, Melrose Industries and Sainsbury (J) lost 1 to 1.6%.

In the German market, Vonovia, Infineon, Qiagen, Siemens Energy and SAP gained 2 to 2.8%. Siemens, Symrise, Siemens Healthineers, HeidelbergCement and RWE advanced 1 to 1.5%.

In Paris, ArcelorMittal, Eurofins Scientific, STMicroElectronics and Alstom gained 2.1 to 2.8%.

Edenred, Renault, Capgemini, Dassault Systemes, Veolia, Bouygues, Legrand, Sanofi, Essilor, Credit Agricole and LVMH also closed notably higher.

Shares of game publisher Ubisoft Entertainment soared higher after Microsoft said it would divest several gaming rights to the company as part of a new deal submitted to U.K. regulators for its takeover of Activision Blizzard.

In economic news, data from the European Central Bank showed the eurozone recorded a current account surplus of EURO 36.8 billion in June, as against a revised EURO 4.4 billion deficit in the same month last year.

Data released by the Office for National Statistics showed public sector net borrowing in the UK was £3.5 billion in July 2023, up from £0.1 billion in the same month last year.

Public sector net borrowing excluding banks in the UK was £4.3 billion in July 2023, up from £0.9 billion in the same month last year and below market forecasts of £5.0 billion, the data showed.