BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The major European markets closed on the positive side on Wednesday even as several markets in the region failed to hold early gains. The early buoyancy over upbeat earnings update from Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML subsided a bit later on in the session.
Additionally, U.S. inflation data increased the possibility of a Fed rate hike at the upcoming meeting.
While the report from the Labor Department showed consumer prices grew in line with estimates, it also showed a bigger than expected increase in core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices.
The annual rate of core consumer price growth accelerated to 2.6% in September from 2.4% in August, coming in slightly above economist estimates for 2.5% growth. The bigger than expected increase in core prices has led to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy meeting later this month.
Oil prices swung between gains and losses today amid uncertainty over a recovery in energy shipments from the Persian Gulf following a Houthi missile attack on Saudi Aramco's Dhahran headquarters.
Brent crude futures climbed to $107.15 a barrel before dropping to $105.21. However, the contract edged higher again and was last seen hovering around $106.50 a barrel.
The pan European Stoxx 600 closed up 0.43%. The UK's FTSE 100 climbed 0.7%, Germany's DAX drifted lower by 0.15% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.58% down. Switzerland's SMI moved up 1.45%.
Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Spain ended higher.
Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Poland, Russia and Türkiye closed weak, while Iceland and Sweden ended flat.
In the UK market, Barratt Redrow climbed more than 4%. Burberry Group moved up 3.5%. Pharma stocks GSK and AstraZeneca gained 3.6% and 3.4%, respectively.
Babcock International, Land Securities, Unilever, British Land, Imperial Brands, BAE Systems, Reckitt Benckiser, Haleon, Tesco, Convatec Group, Diageo, Kingfisher, Ithaca Energy, Melrose Industries and Games Workshop gained 1.4%-3%.
Associated British Foods, Sainsbury (J), Shell, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, Rolls-Royce Holdings, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Diploma, Compass Group, Tritax Big Box REIT and British American Tobacco also closed notably higher.
Fresnillo, Computacenter, Endeavour Mining, Airtel Africa, Standard Chartered, Admiral Group, Balfour Beatty, ICG, The Sage Group, WPP, Lion Finance, Rio Tinto and Experian shed 1%-4.7%.
In the German market, Rheinmetall moved up 3.7%. Merck climbed 3.2%. MTU Aero Engines, Bayer, BASF, Henkel, Fresenius, Brenntag, Beiersdorf, Deutsche Boerse, Qiagen and Fresenius Medical Care gained 1%-2.35%.
Siemens Energy tumbled 5.5%. Porsche Automobil Holding and Volkswagen both settled lower by about 2.7%. Zalando, Scout24, Commerzbank, Hochtief and Infineon also ended notably lower.
In the French market, Danone gained 2.6%. Airbus, L'Oreal, Thales, Sanofi, Kering, LVMH, EssilorLuxottica, Engie, AXA, Veolia Environment and Orange moved up 1%-2%.
Renault dropped 2.9%. Stellantis drifted down nearly 2.5%. STMicroelectronics, Legrand, Edenred and Capgemini lost 1%-1.7%.
In economic news, Germany's wholesale price inflation hit the highest since early 2023 on energy and intermediate goods prices in September, data from Destatis showed.
Wholesale price inflation rose to 8.7% from 6.8% in the prior month. Month-on-month, wholesale prices rose 1.9% in September, following August's 0.9% increase. This was the third consecutive increase and exceeded economists' forecast 0.6%.
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