BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks rose on Wednesday to extend gains from the previous session as hopes for a global economic recovery outweighed fears over a second wave of coronavirus infections as well as rising geopolitical tensions.
The pan European Stoxx 600 rose 0.4 percent to 364.93 after climbing as much as 2.9 percent on Tuesday.
The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France's CAC 40 index gained 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up half a percent.
Dutch postal and parcel services provider PostNL jumped more than 16 percent. The company said it expects Q2 2020 normalised EBIT to come in strongly above last year.
Boohoo shares surged nearly 9 percent. The online fashion group upgraded its profit forecasts after reporting a 45 percent jump in sales during the Covid crisis.
HSBC Holdings edged up slightly after reports that it has resumed the plan of cutting 35,000 jobs over the medium term.
Serco Group shares surged as much as 17 percent. The provider of public services reinstated financial guidance and said underlying trading profit for the first half would be about 50 percent higher based on strong revenue growth.
Construction firm Berkeley Group Holdings rallied 3.8 percent. The company said it is well placed to manage the current period of uncertainty without call on the Government's furlough scheme or its Covid Corporate Financing Facility.
Delivery Hero SE advanced 1.5 percent. The online food ordering company said it has reached a share purchase and equity collar agreement to restore its exposure in Just Eat Takeaway.com N.V. to about 10.6 percent.
Lufthansa gained 1 percent after German investor Heinz Hermann Thiele raised his stake in the airline to more than 15 percent.
On the data front, Eurozone inflation moved close to stagnation in May, as initially estimated, to the lowest since 2016, final data from Eurostat showed.
Inflation slowed to 0.1 percent from 0.3 percent in April. The rate came in line with the estimate published on May 29.This was the lowest since June 2016. In the same period last year, inflation was 1.2 percent.
On a monthly basis, the harmonized index of consumer prices dropped 0.1 percent in May. The monthly rate also matched preliminary estimate.
U.K. inflation eased to a four-year low in May, the Office for National Statistics said.
Consumer price inflation eased to 0.5 percent in May, as expected, from 0.8 percent in April. This was the lowest since June 2016, when a similar 0.5 percent was reported.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices remained unchanged after easing 0.2 percent in April. Prices were expected to drop 0.1 percent.
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