Upbeat earnings drive European shares higher; Barclays, Deutsche Bank jump (updated)

SIMCORP A/S

27/04/2023 10:21

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        * 
      STOXX 600 index up 0.2%
    

        * 
      Bank shares rise 0.9%
    

        * 
      Deutsche Bank, Barclays up on earnings beat
    

        * 
      Unilever up on Q1 sales beat
    

  
 (Updates prices; adds details and comment)
    By Shubham  Batra
       April 27 (Reuters) - European shares rose on Thursday
driven by a raft of positive earnings, with upbeat results from
Deutsche Bank and Barclays overshadowing worries over the U.S.
banking sector's health. 
    The pan-European STOXX 600 index  .STOXX  was up 0.2%, led
by automobile shares  .SXAP , rising 1.0%.
    Investor concerns over the health of the U.S. banking sector
calmed on Thursday, as First Republic Bank  FRC.N  recovered
slightly in U.S. premarket trading after hitting a record low on
Wednesday.
    "Earnings season in the U.S. is a meaningful driver. Some of
the large tech names delivered better-than-expected results,"
said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.  
    "On the negative side, (there is) this ongoing question
about U.S. regional banks and how that's going to be resolved.
That seems to be weighing a little bit on sentiment towards
financials globally."
    European banking shares  .SX7P  rose 0.9% led by Barclays
Plc  BARC.L  that climbed 4.3% on an estimate-beating quarterly
profit, as a resilient performance from its consumer bank offset
pressure on other key business lines.
    Deutsche Bank AG  DBKGn.DE  also rose 2.2% following a
better-than-expected rise in first-quarter profit, as income
from higher interest rates offset a slump in revenues at the
investment bank.
    Danish software firm SimCorp  SIM.CO  was the top gainer on
STOXX 600, surging 38% after receiving a 3.9 billion euro ($4.31
billion) bid from German exchange operator Deutsche Boerse
 DB1Gn.DE .
    Some of Europe's biggest drugmakers including Roche  ROG.S ,
Novo Nordisk  NOVOb.CO  and GSK  GSK.L  rose more than 1%,
following heavy losses on Wednesday. 
    AstraZeneca Plc  AZN.L  added 0.9% on beating expectations
for its first-quarter profit and revenue on sales of some of its
oncology and rare blood disorder drugs.
    Unilever Plc  ULVR.L  climbed 1.5% on better-than-expected
quarterly underlying sales, as the Dove soap maker raised prices
yet again to compensate for higher commodity and supply chain
costs.
    Media shares  .SXMP , however, dropped 1.5% as Universal
Music Group  UMG.AS  fell 4.8% after it posted a lower
first-quarter core profit.
    STMicroelectronics NV  STM.DE  lost 4.5% despite
forecast-beating first-quarter results, as investors worried the
slowdown in semi-conductor industry would eventually catch up
with the company. 
    European equities have gained more than 1% so far in April,
buoyed by upbeat corporate earnings, moving over worries of the
banking sector that pulled the index down last month. But
uncertainty over interest rate hikes still looms large.
    Euro zone consumer confidence improved slightly in April
compared to a month ago, data showed. 
    


($1 = 0.9048 euros)

 (Reporting by Shubham Batra in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry
Jacob-Phillips)
 ((Shubham.Batra@thomsonreuters.com;))