MILAN/FRANKFURT: European stocks closed higher on Wednesday as news of additional stimulus in Germany and anticipated economic recovery measures in France overcame concerns about rising Covid-19 cases across the continent.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index added 0.9%, with German stocks up 1% and France's CAC 40 0.8% higher.
Having led the recovery from March's pandemic-driven lows, technology shares were the day's best performers, mirroring gains on Wall Street.
Heavyweight German enterprise software maker SAP SE rose 2.2% after US peer Salesforce.com raised its 2021 revenue forecast.
Economic data in the past week has muddied the outlook for the euro zone recovery, keeping the STOXX 600 in a holding pattern about 15% below its all-time high, even as US stocks hit new peaks on easing US-China trade tensions and hopes of a coronavirus treatment.
Swedish radiation therapy equipment maker Elekta topped the STOXX 600 after posting a bigger-than-expected first-quarter profit.
HiQ International soared nearly 26% after private equity firm Triton announced a 3.9 billion crown ($444.92 million) cash bid for the Swedish IT consultancy firm.
Telecom Italia rose 5.1% after a local newspaper reported the Italian government had given approval to US investment firm KKR to buy a minority stake in its secondary grid.
Ambu, which makes diagnostic and life-support devices for hospitals, slumped 13.4% after it cut its full-year earnings forecast.
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