European Stocks Close Higher On Bargain Hunting, Some Positive Economic Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a strong note on Wednesday, rebounding after suffering sharp losses in the previous session amid rising concerns about a possible recession.

Stocks rallied on bargain hunting, and positive reaction to upbeat German factory orders and industrial production data, and news that a strike was called off by Norwegian oil and gas workers.

German new industrial orders grew 0.1% month-on-month in May, reversing the trend after a third consecutive monthly drop, Destatis reported.

That was in contrast to the revised 1.8% decline in April and the expected fall of 0.6%.

Eurozone retail sales rose 0.2% in May compared with the previous month, Eurostat said. The April data has been revised to a 1.4% decline, instead of the 1.3% sequential drop previously estimated.

Investors looked ahead to the release of the minutes of the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting, due later in the day.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.66%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.17%, Germany's DAX surged 1.56% and France's CAC 40 jumped 2.03%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 1.23%.

Among other markets in Europe, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Austria, Czech Republic, Norway and Russia ended weak, while Greece, Portugal and Spain settled flat.

In the UK market, Scottish Mortgage rallied nearly 7%. ABRDN gained over 5% after the British investment company launched a GBP300-million share buyback program.

Hargreaves Lansdown, JD Sports Fashion, ICP, Auto Trader Group, Informa, Halma, Experian, Schrodders and St. James Place gained 4 to 5%.

Rolls-Royce Holdings, RightMove, RS Group, Relx, Flutter Entertainment, Dechra Pharmaceuticals, Burberry Group and B&M European Value Retail also moved up sharply.

Just Eat Takeaway.com shares jumped nearly 14% after Amazon agreed to buy a stake in its unit Grubhub.

Shares of online booking site Trainline zoomed 21% after the company upped its sales outlook, citing a recovery in demand for travel across Europe amid an influx of U.S. tourists.

Fresnillo, Harbour Energy, Standard Chartered, Shell and BP ended sharply lower.

In the French market, Atos soared nearly 10%. Hermes International, STMicroElectronics, L'Oreal, Dassault Sytemes, Teleperformance, LVMH, Thales, Publicis Groupe, Safran, Schneider Electric, Michelin, Airbus Group and Air Liquide gained 3 to 5%.

Faurecia tumbled nearly 6% after Barclays double-downgraded its rating on the stock to "underweight." Valeo, Engie, ArcelorMittal and Orange shed 1 to 3%.

In Germany, HelloFresh climbed 5.5%. Zalando, Deutsche Wohnen, Puma, Infineon Technologies, MTU Aero Engines, Deutsche Boerse, Vonovia and Siemens Healthineers gained 3 to 5%.

SAP, Siemens, Linde, Sartorius, Porsche Automobil, Merck, Qiagen, Munich RE and Symrise also posted strong gains.