Europe: Shares rise on China optimism, but snap seven-week winning streak

EUROPEAN shares rose on Friday (Dec 10) as industrial and financial stocks gained on China-led optimism, but recession worries ahead of a slew of central bank decisions dragged the region-wide Stoxx 600 index to a weekly loss after a seven-week rally.

The Stoxx 600 closed 0.8 per cent higher, snapping a five-day losing streak that was largely driven by concerns about an impending global recession due to sharp interest rate hikes by central banks.

Data on Thursday showing a rise in US weekly jobless claims has raised hopes that the Federal Reserve could temper its aggressive stance on interest rate hikes, with China’s easing of its strict Covid curbs also aiding sentiment.

The next week will be crucial, with rate decisions due from the Fed, Bank of England and European Central Bank (ECB).

The ECB may raise rates by 50 basis points next week, according to a Reuters poll, following two straight 75 basis point increases.

“It’s uncertainty as to what central banks are likely to do in the new year, not next week, that’s prompting a little bit of caution given that most of the economic data that we’re seeing indicate that we are going to see a bit of a slowdown in economic activity,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

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Industrial stocks such as Siemens AG and Schneider Electric SE were among the biggest boosts to the index, while China-exposed financials such as Prudential Plc rose 3.0 per cent.

Banks snapped their four-day losing streak and advanced 0.9 per cent.

Euro zone banks are set to repay early another 447.5 billion euros in multi-year loans from the ECB, bringing the total paydown to nearly 800 billion euros in just a few weeks, the ECB said.

Credit Suisse jumped 6.8 per cent after the embattled bank hailed a “milestone” in its turnaround plan on Thursday after raising 2.24 billion Swiss francs ($2.39 billion) as part of a 4 billion franc cash call.

Vestas gained 6.4 per cent as the Danish wind turbine maker announced new orders and UBS raised its price target. REUTERS