European Shares Gain On Rate Cut Hopes

(RTTNews) - European stocks inched higher in cautious trade on Thursday amid bets that the European Central Bank will likely lower borrowing costs in the spring.

"It's perhaps more probable in June — we are very pragmatic and will see depending on the data," Bank of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau said on France Info radio. Spring in Europe is from April to June 21.

On a light day on the economic front, final data from the statistics office INE showed Spain inflation softened to a six-month low in February, as initially estimated.

Consumer price inflation weakened to 2.8 percent in February from 3.4 percent in the prior month. The rate came in line with estimate and was also the lowest since last August.

The EU harmonized inflation also hit a six-month low of 2.9 percent, as estimated, and down from 3.5 percent in January.

The U.S. producer price inflation data for February due out later in the day along with other reports on weekly jobless claims and retail sales may shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent at 508.38 after gaining 0.2 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX inched up 0.2 percent and France's CAC 40 added 0.7 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed, giving up earlier gains.

Encavis AG jumped 27 percent as private equity firm KKR launched a 2.8 billion-euro ($3.06 billion) takeover offer for the German independent power producer. K&S jumped 7.8 percent after the salt and potash miner beat expectations on annual results and offered better-than-expected guidance.

Container shipper Hapag-Lloyd dropped nearly 2 percent after warning of a fall in earnings this year.

Electricity producer RWE rose 2.2 percent after leaving its guidance unchanged. Specialty chemicals maker Lanxess slumped 8 percent after reporting a wider Q4 loss.

British meal delivery company Deliveroo gained 1 percent after reporting better-than-expected core earnings of 85 million pounds ($109 million) for 2023.

Savills rose 1.3 percent after the commercial and residential estate agent reported resilient performance in challenging markets for the full year ending 31 December 2023.

IG Group Holdings surged 4.5 percent. The online trading platform posted an increase in revenue in the third quarter despite a drop in market volatility.

Homebuilder Vistry added nearly 2 percent after reporting increased full-year profits and revenue.

Airline EasyJet declined 2.5 percent after pricing a debt issue.