Tech, retail stocks boost STOXX 600 to one-week high (updated)

Hibbett

23/04/2024 09:58

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        * 
      Telecom Italia gains as CEO set for second term 
    

        * 
      Novartis raises guidance after beating Q1 expectations
    

        * 
      SAP rises after Q1 cloud backlog accelerates
    

        * 
      EZ business in services-led bounce in April, PMI survey
shows 
    

        * 
      STOXX 600 up 1.1%
    

  
 (Updated at 1550 GMT)
    By Shubham  Batra and Johann M  Cherian
       April 23 (Reuters) - European shares logged their best
day in six weeks on Tuesday, driven by the retail and technology
sector as investors found comfort in upbeat corporate updates,
while the UK's FTSE 100 index hit its all-time peak.
    The pan-European STOXX 600 index  .STOXX  jumped 1.1%
boosted by technology shares  .SX8P  that advanced 2.6% as SAP
 SAPG.DE  reported a 24% jump in first-quarter cloud revenue to
3.93 billion euros ($4.19 billion), buoyed by demand for its
enterprise resource planning software.
    Shares of the German company climbed 5.3%.
    Italian stocks  .FTMIB  were the best performers among
European peers and Britain's FTSE 100  .FTSE  closed at a record
high for a second day, helped by a weaker pound and positive
corporate updates.
    "This is a momentous occasion for the UK index, but the
outperformance has been building for the past month. As market
volatility has risen, the FTSE 100's defensive qualities have
boosted its attractiveness," said Kathleen Brooks, research
director at XTB.
    Adding to the gains on the benchmark index, retail sector
 .SXRP  climbed 2.2%, with Hennes & Mauritz  HMb.ST  rising 4.2%
as Morgan Stanley raised the target price on the stock.
    JD Sports Fashion  JD.L  rose 3.8% after Britain's biggest
sportswear retailer proposed to buy American athletic fashion
retailer Hibbett Inc  HIBB.O  for about $1.08 billion.
    Shares of Swedish banking platform Nordnet  SAVE.ST  topped
STOXX 600 with 9.0% gain following a beat on its first quarter
operating profit.
    Associated British Foods  ABF.L  also gained 9.0% after the
Primark owner forecast "significant growth" in full-year profit.
    On the flip side, Randstad  RAND.AS , the world's biggest
employment agency, reported disappointing quarterly core
earnings, sending shares of the Dutch firm down 7.2%, among top
decliners on the STOXX.
    Equities have been making a steady recovery from over a
month's low as fears of a wider Middle East conflict ebbed,
companies are reporting positive earning updates and hopes of
imminent interest rates rose.
        Overall, first-quarter earnings are expected to decrease
12.1% from a year ago, LSEG data showed last week.    
    Among other movers, Novartis  NOVN.S  was up 1.8% as the
Swiss drugmaker raised its full-year outlook after reporting
first-quarter results that surpassed expectations.
    Telecom Italia  TLIT.MI  gained nearly 2% after CEO Pietro
Labriola appeared set to secure a second term as leading
investor Vivendi  VIV.PA  decided to abstain in a shareholder
vote on the renewal of the former phone monopoly's board.
    Meanwhile, business activity overall in the euro zone
expanded at its fastest pace in nearly a year this month as a
buoyant recovery in the bloc's dominant service industry more
than offset a deeper downturn in manufacturing.
    
    

 (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shubham Batra in Bengaluru;
Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Sohini Goswami and Nick
Zieminski)
 ((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com;))