European Stocks Close Broadly Higher As Oil Prices Drop

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly higher on Wednesday as weak oil prices and lower bond yields helped lift sentiment. Investors digested the latest batch of regional economic data and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due later in the day.

Despite data showing an acceleration in the nation's consumer price inflation in the month of August, U.K. stocks gained notable ground in positive territory thanks to strong buying in mining and bank stocks.

The U.S. central bank is widely expected to raise interest rate by 25 basis points. The accompanying statement is in focus for clues about Fed's future interest rate path.

Oil prices eased after industry data showed an unexpected build in U.S. crude inventories and reports emerged that Saudi Arabia is offering more crude oil to Asian refiners through ship-to-ship transfer off Oman's Sohar port.

Brent crude futures dropped to $104.00 a barrel, losing more than 4%.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.46%. The UK's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.28%, 0.53% and 0.62%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.43% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended higher.

Czech Republic, Denmark, Poland, Russia and Türkiye closed weak, while Iceland and Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, shares from financials and mining sectors had a good outing. Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays Group and Natwest moved notably higher. Miners Fresnillo, Antofagasta, Endeavour Mining and Anglo American Plc posted strong gains.

Barratt Redrow soared 11.7% on reporting higher profit for fiscal 2026, mainly helped by revenue growth. Profit before tax from continuing operations rose to £363.5 million from £273.7 million a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, adjusted pre-tax profit rose to £525 million from £521.9 million a year ago.

Operating profit increased to £444.3 million from £285.5 million last year. Adjusted operating profit grew to £550.3 million from £500.1 million.

Persimmon climbed 5.8%. Burberry Group, SSE, Babcock International, 3i Group, Tritax Big Box REIT, Centrica, IAG, Howden Joinery Group, Kingfisher, Melrose Industries, United Utilities Group, National Grid, Legal & General and Severn Trent gained 2%-3.4%.

Energy stocks BP and Shell shed 2.3% and 2.1%, respectively, as oil prices fell sharply.

St. James's Place shed 2.5%. Metlen Energy & Metals drifted down 2%. Compass Group, Marks & Spencer, Imperial Brands and Convatec Group also ended notably lower.

In the German market, Siemens Energy, RWE, Hochtief and Symrise gained 2.3%-3.2%. Adidas, Continental, Fresenius, E.ON, Brenntag, MTU Aero Engines, Henkel, Infineon and Allianz gained 1%-2%.

Shares of turbine manufacturer Nordex climbed higher after the company secured a 91 MW order from TEUT Energleprojekte GmbH.

Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Commerzbank, Porsche Automobil Holding, Siemens Healthineers, Zalando and BMW ended lower by 1%-2.7%.

In the French market, ArcelorMittal, Edenred, Engie, Bouygues and Legrand moved up 1.8%-2.3%.

Eurofins Scientific, Kering, Schneider Electric, AXA, Vinci, Societe Generale, Safran, STMicroelectronics, Veolia Environment, Accor and BNP Paribas gained 1%-1.7%.

Vallourec, a provider of tubular solutions for oil, gas and new energy industry, surged 6.5% after securing a major contract from Subsea7 for an offshore project in Brazil.

Renault ended nearly 4.5% down. Stellantis closed lower by 3.4%. Capgemini drifted lower by 2.8%, Publicis Groupe ended 1.7% down, and Danone closed with a loss of about 1.1%.

In economic news, UK consumer price inflation rose to a five-month high in August largely due to higher motor fuel prices, the Office for National Statistics said.

Inflation advanced to 3.1% from 2.9% in July. The rate came in line with expectations. Meanwhile, core inflation that excludes energy, food, alcohol and tobacco remained unchanged at 2.6% in August.

Another report from the statistical office showed increases in input and output price inflation. Input price inflation rose to 6.1% from 5.8% in the previous month. At the same time, annual growth in output prices climbed to 3.7% from 3.3%.

On a monthly basis, input prices rebounded 0.3% after a 0.8% fall and output prices moved up 0.7%, following July's 0.4% increase.

Eurozone industrial production edged down 0.1% in July, after falling at the same pace in June, Eurostat reported. Production was expected to decline 0.2%.

The monthly fall was driven by the 1.6% decrease in non-durable consumer goods production, while all other sectors of industrial production expanded moderately.

On a yearly basis, industrial production remained flat compared to a 0.3% drop in June. Economists had forecast output to fall again by 0.3%.

Industrial output in the EU was down 0.3% from June but increased 0.3% from the last year.