BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks were moving higher on Tuesday as upbeat manufacturing and service sector activity data from China raised hopes of an economic recovery following the coronavirus outbreak.
The manufacturing PMI came in at 52 in March, up from a record low of 35.7 in February. The non-manufacturing PMI rose to 52.3 from 29.6 in February.
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) attributed the surprise rebound in PMI to its record low base in February and cautioned that the readings do not signal a stabilization in economic activity.
Investors now await tomorrow's European and U.S. PMI readings for further direction as the number of coronavirus cases worldwide continued to grow, nearing 800,000.
With more than 160,000 cases, the United States is now the epicenter of the crisis.
The benchmark CAC 40 was up 68 points, or 1.57 percent, at 4,447 after closing 0.6 percent higher the previous day.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX