European Shares Extend Gains, Tracking Wall Street's Overnight Rally

(RTTNews) - European stocks rose on Thursday after U.S. stocks posted strong gains overnight, helped by strong earnings from some major companies and positive consumer-confidence data.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up half a percent at 433.41 after climbing 1.7 percent in the previous session.

The German DAX, France's CAC 40 index and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 were up between 0.3 percent and half a percent.

Swedish real estate company Castellum AB fell about 1 percent. The company said it is divesting a soon-to-be-completed property with the Swedish National Courts Administration as the sole tenant.

BP Plc rose half a percent and Shell added 1 percent in London as oil extended gains for a fourth day running on data showing a larger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories.

The Character Group, a designer, developer, and distributer of toys, games, and giftware, slumped 5.4 percent after posting a decline in earnings for the full year.

600 Group shares plummeted 26 percent. The industrial laser systems business reported that its first-half Group pre-tax loss was $1.45 million, compared to profit of $72 thousand last year.

French automobile major Renault SA was down 0.8 percent. The company has placed a 210 billion yen or about 1.4 billion euros new Samurai retail bond that will mature in December 2026 and carry a coupon of 2.80 percent.

Hornbach Holding AG & Co. KGaA, a German DIY-store chain operator, added 1 percent after backing its FY23 outlook.

Retailer Metro AG edged up slightly after saying that it agreed to divest Metro India to Reliance Retail Ventures Limited.

In economic releases, investors shrugged off data showing that the U.K. economy contracted more than initially estimated in the third quarter, due to the downward revisions to industrial and construction output.

The decline in gross domestic product was revised to -0.3 percent from -0.2 percent.