European Stocks Close On Buoyant Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a buoyant note on Tuesday with investors indulging in some hectic bargain hunting at scores of counters, including those from the banking sector.

The mood turned positive in the markets amid hopes there will be a pause in aggressive U.S. interest rate hikes following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, and data showing a drop in U.S. consumer prices.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.48%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 1.06%, Germany's DAX surged 1.75% and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.82%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.86%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden ended with strong gains.

Czech Republic and Russia posted moderate gains, and Poland edged up marginally, while Turkiye ended sharply lower.

In the UK market, Rolls-Royce Holdings surged more than 7%. Ocado Group, Hargreaves Lansdown, St. Jame's Place, Centrica, BAE Systems, Weir Group, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Barclays and Flutter Entertainment gained 3 to 4.2%.

Antofagasta, Auto Trader Group, Unite Group, Convatec Group, CRH, Ashtead Group, ABRDN, Whitbread, Lloyds Banking Group, Associated British Foods, Prudential and Natwest Group all gained more than 2%.

HSBC Holdings surged higher after the lender said it plans to inject £2 billion of liquidity into the UK unit of SVB.

In the German market, Porsche climbed nearly 5.5%. Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, MTU Aero Engines, Siemens, HeidelbergCement, SAP, RWE, Infineon Technologies, Siemens Energy, Deutsche Post and Zalando gained 2 to 4.5%.

Volkswagen drifted lower. The German auto giant unveiled plans to invest 180 billion euros between 2023 - 2027 in its most attractive profit pools and regions.

In Paris, Thales, Airbus Group, Safran, Kering, BNP Paribas, Unibail Rodamco, Societe Generale, TotalEnergies, Schneider Electric, Hermes International, Publicis Groupe, LVMH, Veolia and Legrand gained 2 to 4%.

Eurofins Scientific drifted down 2.4%, and STMicroElectronics ended lower by about 1.7%.

In economic news, the UK unemployment rate remained stable in the three months to January and wages grew slowly, raising the possibility of an interest rate pause from the Bank of England after ten successive rate hikes.

The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 3.7% in the three months to January, the Office for National Statistics reported Tuesday. The rate was forecast to rise slightly to 3.8%.

Switzerland's producer and import price inflation eased further in February to the lowest level in nearly two years, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed.

Producer and import prices rose 2.7% year-on-year in February, slower than the 3.3% increase in the previous month. Further, this was the weakest rate of increase since April 2021, when prices had risen 1.8%.

Data from the U.S. Labor Department said its consumer price index rose by 0.4% in February after climbing by 0.5% in January.

Core consumer prices, which exclude food and energy prices, increased by 0.5% in February after rising by 0.4% in the previous month. Economists had expected core prices to rise by 0.4%.

The report also showed the annual rate of consumer price growth slowed to 6% in February from 6.4% in January.

The slowdown in year-over-year price growth may help offset recent concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.