European Stocks End Week On Strong Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed notably higher on Friday amid rising optimism global central banks, including the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England and European Central Bank will likely hold interest rates, and might even consider a couple of rate cuts by the middle of next year.

Recent data showing cooling inflation in the U.S. and Europe have helped ease concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Investors shrugged official data showing that U.K. retail sales declined unexpectedly in October as a result of rising interest rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.01%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged 1.26%, Germany's DAX jumped 0.84% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.91%, while Switzerland's SMI ended 0.89% up.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye closed with sharp to moderate gains.

In the UK market, British Land Company, Standard Chartered, Natwest Group, DCC, ICP, Barratt Developments, Anglo American Plc, TUI and Prudential gained 3 to 4.5%.

Land Securities, Flutter Entertainment, ITV, Barclays, 3i, Vodafone Group, Fresnillo, Hargreaves Lansdown, Glencore, Aviva, Royal Dutch Shell and EasyJet also ended sharply higher.

In the German market, Siemens Energy climbed nearly 8%. Deutsche Bank, Fresenius, Hannover Rueck, Bayer, Sartorius, Fresenius Medical Care, Vonovia, Adidas, Merck, MTU Aero Engines, BMW, Munich RE, Siemens Healthineers, Mercedes-Benz, Siemens and Daimler Truck Holding gained 1 to 2.5%.

Infineon, Henkel, Symrise, Covestro and Beiersdorf closed weak.

In Paris, Unibail Rodamco surged 3%. ArcelorMittal, Publicis Groupe, Veolia, Saint Gobain, Societe Generale, TotalEnergies, Kering, AXA, Sanofi, Teleperformance, Michelin, Thales and Safran gained 1 to 2.5%.

Alstom drifted down 1.7%. WorldLine, Stellantis and Hermes International ended slightly weak.

Swedish auto maker Volvo Cars plunged 11% after its majority shareholder, China's Geely, launched a sale of 100 million shares at a deep discount to the previous day's closing price.

In economic news, data from the Office for National Statistics showed UK retail sales declined 0.3% in October, but slower than the September's revised 1.1% decrease. However, the fall confounded forecast of 0.3% gain.

Eurozone inflation eased further in October to the lowest level in more than two years amid cheaper energy costs along with a slowdown in food prices, final data from Eurostat showed. Harmonized inflation stood at 2.9% in October, well below the 4.9% rise seen in September.

The statistical office confirmed the flash estimate published on October 31. The latest inflation figure was the weakest since July 2021, when the rate stood at 2.2%. Nonetheless, the inflation rate is still above the European Central Bank's target of 2%.

The euro area current account surplus remained stable in September, the European Central Bank said. The current account surplus totaled EUR 31 billion, unchanged from August.

The surplus on goods trade decreased to EUR 31 billion from EUR 36 billion a month ago, while the surplus on services trade held steady at EUR 8 billion.