European Shares Rise As China Eases COVID Curbs; FTSE 100 Underperforms

(RTTNews) - European stocks rose on Friday to extend gains from the previous session as cooling U.S. inflation fueled hopes the Federal Reserve would soon start scaling down the size of its interest-rate hikes.

Sentiment was also boosted after China cut quarantine restrictions for inbound travelers and flights.

The loosening of curbs came, a day after President Xi Jinping led his new Politburo Standing Committee in a meeting on COVID.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up half a percent at 433.91 after rallying 2.8 percent to log its biggest percentage gain in five weeks on Thursday.

The German DAX climbed 0.6 percent and France's CAC 40 index added 0.9 percent while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was down 0.4 percent, giving up early gains after the release of GDP data.

Miners Anglo American and Antofagasta surged 4-5 percent in London on news of China easing its stringent COVID rules.

China-exposed luxury giants were moving higher, with Kering, Pernod Ricard and Hermes International climbing 1-3 percent in Paris.

Richemont shares soared 14 percent. The Swiss luxury goods group struck an upbeat tone after reporting higher half-year sales.

British safety equipment company Halma gained about 1 percent after naming Steve Gunning as its new CFO.

Drug maker AstraZeneca fell 2.5 percent after saying it is longer pursuing U.S. approval of its COVID-19 vaccine.

German steel producer Salzgitter jumped 7.7 percent despite reporting lower Q3 profit.

Reinsurer Munich Re was little changed after cutting stake in Admiral Group.

In economic releases, German consumer price inflation accelerated to 10.4 percent in October from 10.0 percent in September, final data from Destatis showed. The rate came in line with the flash estimate.

U.K. GDP shrank 0.2 percent sequentially, offsetting the 0.2 percent gain in the second quarter - according to the first estimate from the Office for National Statistics. However, the pace of decline was slower than economists' forecast of -0.5 percent.