European shares inch up on earnings bump, higher yields weigh

Coloplast A/S

09/02/2024 08:03

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock
markets, click  LIVE/  or type LIVE/ in a news window)
       Feb 9 (Reuters) - European shares inched higher at open
on Friday on strong performances in healthcare stocks and video
games group Ubisoft after quarterly results, though gains were
limited by higher government bond yields as traders pulled back
their interest rate cut bets. 
    The pan-European STOXX 600 index  .STOXX  was up 0.1%, as of
0822 GMT.
     Ubisoft  UBIP.PA  jumped nearly 14% after the video games
group reported third quarter net bookings slightly above its
forecast.
    Healthcare stocks  .SXDP  led advances, helped by a more
than 9% rise in both Danish medical equipment maker Coloplast
 COLOb.CO  and German med-tech firm Carl Zeiss Meditec AG
 AFXG.DE  after first-quarter results.  
    Focus was on luxury stocks, with shares of Hermes  HRMS.PA 
adding 4.5% after the Birkin bag maker's sales jumped in the
fourth quarter. 
    Weighing on the index, L'Oreal  OREP.PA  dropped 6.3% after
the French cosmetics maker missed fourth quarter sales estimates
as Chinese travellers spent less on shopping, according to
traders. 
    Hurting equities, the yield on the German 10-year government
bond rose for third-straight session, last at 2.380%, as markets
pulled back their bets of an early interest rate cut from the
European Central Bank.  GVD/EUR 
    Money markets now see around 113 basis points (bps) of cuts
this year, from around 140 bps a week earlier.  0#ECBWATCH  

 (Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank
Dhaniwala)
 ((Shristi.AcharA@thomsonreuters.com
https://twitter.com/ShristiAchar;))