BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Wednesday's session with modest gains. A weakening of the Euro and the British pound against the U.S. dollar provided a boost to shares of exporters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping conveyed a positive view of the Chinese economy at the opening of the 19th Communist Party Congress and indicated China will move forward with reforms aimed at further opening its market to foreign investors.
Accommodative monetary policy opens window of opportunity to take structural reforms, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said Wednesday.
He observed that crisis confirmed that more flexible economies are more resilient, especially for countries that are part of a monetary union.
Lessons about how to design and implement reforms so as to maximize their benefits and minimize their short-term costs should be put into practice, Draghi said at a conference in Frankfurt.
Eurozone's strengthening economy suggest that it may be time to think of modest tightening of monetary policy, European Central Bank policymaker Ardo Hansson said in an interview published Wednesday.
'The economy is in much better shape than it was a while ago...in this situation I think it's better to think of making mild adjustments to policy to have it slightly less accommodative than it was before,' Hansson, who is a member of the ECB Governing Council, said in an interview to the Handelsblatt newspaper.
The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index advanced 0.29 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks increased 0.33 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, added 0.23 percent.
The DAX of Germany climbed 0.37 percent and the CAC 40 of France rose 0.42 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. gained 0.36 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished higher by 0.43 percent.
In Frankfurt, online retailer Zalando dropped 4.14 percent after the company warned that it may post a pretax loss in the third quarter.
Construction major Hochtief AG climbed 1.30 percent after it launched a voluntary public takeover offer for all outstanding shares in Abertis Infraestructuras for about 17.10 billion euros.
In Paris, aerial work platform manufacturer Haulotte group sank 8.79 percent after posting slower sales growth for its third quarter.
In London, supermarket chain J Sainsbury declined 0.57 percent after announcing that it was cutting 2,000 jobs.
Reckitt Benckiser fell 2.53 percent after announcing a restructuring plan and cutting its full-year sales outlook.
Mining giant Rio Tinto lost 2.98 percent after it has been charged with fraud by U.S. regulators.
Chamberlin plunged 13.20 percent after the specialist castings and engineering group warned on margins in foundry businesses for its first half. British Airways owner IAG rallied 2.68 percent on a brokerage upgrade.
DS Smith climbed 3.71 percent after the packaging specialist said it would acquire Romania-based EcoPack and EcoPaper for an enterprise value of about 208 million euros.
Semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding weakened by 2.32 percent in Amsterdam after the firm reported higher profit in its third quarter and maintained forecast for higher sales in fiscal 2017.
Akzo Nobel declined 1.84 percent. The paint maker issued another profit warning after reporting lower-than-expected third quarter earnings, impacted by unfavorable currencies and margin pressure from raw material cost inflation.
Eurozone construction output declined for the first time in five months in August, figures from Eurostat showed Wednesday. Construction output fell 0.2 percent month-over-month in August, after remaining flat in July, which was revised down from a 0.2 percent rise reported initially.
The UK unemployment rate held steady at the lowest level since 1975 and the wage squeeze continued, data from the Office for National Statistics showed Wednesday. The ILO jobless rate came in at 4.3 percent in the three months to August, the lowest since 1975, and in line with expectations. In the same period of 2016, the rate was 5 percent.
With Hurricanes Harvey and Irma disrupting new residential construction in the South, the Commerce Department released a report on Wednesday showing a substantial decrease in housing starts in the month of September.
The Commerce Department said housing starts plunged by 4.7 percent to an annual rate of 1.127 million in September from the revised August estimate of 1.183 million. Housing starts has been expected to edge down by 0.5 percent.
Building permits, an indicator of future housing demand, also tumbled by 4.5 percent to an annual rate of 1.215 million in September from a revised 1.272 million in August. Economists had expected building permits to drop by 2.9 percent.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX