European Markets Close Higher After Choppy Session

(RTTNews) - European markets ended higher after a choppy ride on Thursday as investors digested a slew of earnings announcement from European and U.S. companies, in addition to reacting to the latest batch of economic data.

The major markets in the region, however, ended on a mixed note.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.18%. France's CAC 40 advanced 0.23% and Germany's DAX edged up 0.03%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 drifted down 0.27% and Switzerland's SMI edged down 0.03%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher.

Belgium and Ireland ended weak, while Finland and Greece settled flat.

In the UK market, Barclays surged 5.32% after first-quarter profit topped expectation.

Prudential rallied nearly 4% and BT Group gained about 3.1%. Airtel Africa, Halma, IAG, Hiscox, Vodafone Group, Rentokil Initial, RS Group, Unilever, Admiral Group and Sage Group ended higher by 1 to 2.35%.

Legal & General Group tumbled more than 7%. WPP, St. James's Place, Ashtead Group, Sainsbury (J) and Frasers Group lost 3 to 4.25%.

Weir Group lost about 1% after the mining engineer backed its guidance for the year.

Smith (DS), Whitbread, IHG, Fresnillo, Smurfit Kappa Group, BP, Glencore, JD Sports Fashion, Flutter Entertainment, British American Tobacco and Shell also ended notably lower.

In Paris, Schneider Electric surged nearly 4% after reporting a rise in Q1 revenue and lifting its FY23 organic growth view.

Teleperformance gained about 3.2%, rebounding after suffering a sharp setback in the previous session. Dassault Systemes, Eurofins Scientific and BNP Paribas gained 2 to 3.15%.

Saint Gobain, Kering, L'Oreal, Credit Agricole, Airbus Group, Societe Generale, Orange and WorldLine also ended notably higher.

Unibail Rodamco, TotalEnergies, Publicis Groupe, Danone and Essilor lost 1 to 3.3%.

In the German market, Siemens Energy gained about 3%. Deutsche Bank surged 2.5% after profit hit its highest in a decade in the first quarter.

Deutsche Post, RWE, Zalando, SAP, Commerzbank, Allianz, Fresenius Medical Care, Vonovia, Fresenius and Siemens gained 1 to 2%.

Deutsche Boerse plunged more than 7%. The company has signed an agreement on voluntary all-cash recommended public takeover offer to acquire Danish software and services provider SimCorp A/S at a price of 735 Danish kroner per share.

BASF ended more than 4% down after the chemicals giant maintained its profit forecast for 2023 but warned of great uncertainty in the global economy.

Puma lost 6.5%, while Infineon Technologies and Daimler Truck Holding ended lower by 3.2% and 4.5%, respectively.

Eurozone economic confidence improved marginally in April as the weakness in industry was more than offset by improvement in confidence among consumers and services providers. The economic sentiment index, or ESI, rose to 99.3 in April from 99.2 in the previous month, data from the European Commission showed Thursday.