BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks closed on a firm note on Wednesday after the European Commission hiked its growth forecasts for the euro area.
A fairly positive trend on Wall Street and lower bond yields contributed as well to the gains in European markets.
Worries about the spread of the delta variant of the coronavirus, inflation concerns and likely tapering of asset buying program by the Federal Reserve sometime sooner than later weighed on sentiment, but did not adversely impact the markets today.
Investors awaited the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve meeting later today, which could reveal more hawkish ideas for interest rates.
The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.78%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged up 0.71%, Germany's DAX gained 1.17% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.31%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 1.01% up.
Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden and Turkey closed notably higher.
Greece, Iceland and Norway ended weak, while Austria and Spain settled flat.
In the UK market, BHP Group, Anglo American Plc, Glencore, Rio Tinto, Antofagasta, Rentokil Initial, Ashtead Group, Experian, Evraz, Berkeley Group, Smith (DS), Severn Trent, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Johnson Matthey and Sainsbury (J) gained 1.8 to 3.2%.
Shares of British money transfer start-up Wise soared 10% on debut.
Informa, Entain, IAG, Rolls-Royce Holdings and Flutter Entertainment declined sharply.
In France, Essilor and Saint Gobain ended stronger by about 2.3% and 2%, respectively. Capgemini, Kering, Teleperformance and Dassault Systemes also ended notably higher.
Technip declined more than 3%. Renault, Safran, BNP Paribas, Valeo, Air France-KLM, Societe Generale and Airbus Group lost 1 to 2%.
In the German market, HeidelbergCement rallied more than 4%. SAP gained about 3.3%, while E.ON, RWE, Adidas, Merck, Volkswagen, Beiersdorf, Deutsche Telekom and Puma gained 1 to 2.5%.
Deutsche Bank, Daimler, BMW and Lufthansa closed weak.
In economic news, the European Commission raised the growth forecast for the euro area and warned that inflation could be higher than expected if supply constraints persist.
Eurozone is set to grow 4.8% this year, the executive arm of the EU said in its latest summer projections. That is stronger than the spring projection of 4.3%. The outlook for next year was raised to 4.5% from 4.3%.
The EU growth outlook for this year was boosted to 4.8% from 4.2%. The projection for next year was raised to 4.5% from 4.4%.
The average inflation forecast for the euro area was raised to 1.9% from 1.7% projected earlier. The outlook for next year was lifted to 1.4% from 1.3%.
German industrial production fell 0.3% month-on-month in May, the same pace of decline as seen in April, data from Destatis revealed. Economists had forecast output to grow 0.5%.
On a yearly basis, industrial output growth moderated to 17.3% from 27.6% a month ago.
France trade deficit widened to a nine-month high in May and the current account deficit increased, official data showed. The trade deficit increased to EUR 6.8 billion in May from EUR 6.33 billion in April, customs office said. This was the biggest shortfall since August 2020, when the deficit was EUR 7.08 billion.
U.K. house prices dropped for the first time in five months in June as the government phases out stamp duty holiday, data from Lloyds Bank subsidiary Halifax and IHS Markit showed.
House prices decreased 0.5% on a monthly basis in June, reversing a 1.2% rise in May.
UK labor productivity recovered in the first quarter, data from the Office for National Statistics showed. Output per hour grew 0.9% quarter-on-year, following a 0.7% fall in the fourth quarter.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2021 AFX News
