European Shares Extend Gains As Investors Look For Bargains

(RTTNews) - European stocks were sharply higher on Tuesday as investors waited for U.S. markets to resume trading after a holiday the previous day.

U.S. stock futures pointed to a sharply higher open later in the day, helping underpin sentiment ahead of Fed Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress over two days.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rallied 1.1 percent to 411.48 after rising 1 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX climbed 1.2 percent, France's CAC 40 index jumped 1.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent.

Dublin-headquartered building materials group Kingspan rallied 3 percent after saying it expects to report record trading profits for the first half of 2022.

Italian defense company Leonardo soared 5.5 percent after it agreed to merge its U.S. unit with Israel's RADA Electronic Industries.

BP Plc advanced 1.3 percent and Shell added 1.4 percent in London as WTI crude futures rose more than 2 percent amid tight supplies of crude and fuel products.

Online supermarket Ocado slumped 4.4 percent after raising £575m in a share placing to fund its expansion.

Packaging group DS Smith added 1.2 percent after it reported strong growth in profits and sales for the year to the end of April.

French industrial gas company Air Liquide jumped 3.3 percent. The company has signed its largest power purchase deal with Swedish utility Vattenfall.

Airbus shares rose over 1 percent after British airline EasyJet said it has exercised options to purchase 56 fuel-efficient single-aisle A320neo aircraft from the European aerospace giant.

Nordex AG, a wind turbine maker, plunged 5 percent after its first-quarter consolidated net loss stood at 150.5 million euros, wider than prior year's loss of 54.7 million euros.

Mercedes-Benz Group AG gained 2.1 percent after it appointed Paul Gao to the newly created position of Chief Strategy Officer, effective July 1, 2022.