European Stocks Recover After Weak Start, Close Broadly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed broadly higher on Tuesday amid easing tariff worries, and expectations that Russia and Ukraine would soon begin ceasefire negotiations. The UK-EU trade agreement on Monday contributed as well to the positive mood in European markets.

Investors also continued to react to corporate earnings updates, and looked ahead to upcoming economic data from major European countries and the U.S.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.73%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.94%, Germany's DAX gained 0.42%, hitting a new record high in the process, and France's CAC 40 closed 0.75% up. Switzerland's SMI ended with a gain of 0.41%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Czech Republic, Netherlands, Norway and Poland posted marginal gains, while Iceland, Russia and Turkiye ended notably lower.

In the UK market, Diploma soared more than 15% after the technical products and service distributor raised its full-year organic revenue growth forecast after reporting robust half-year financial growth.

Vodafone Group gained nearly 6% as the company launched a share buyback program. Smiths Group ended nearly 4.5% up. The conglomerate said annual organic revenue growth would reach the top end of its 6-8% forecast range.

Shares of engineering firm Senior Plc gained 1.75% after securing two new contracts valued at about €200 million.

Centrica gained 3.3% after the company and its subsidiary Spirit Energy reduced their stake in the UK North Sea's biggest gas field to Ithaca Energy in a deal worth £215million.

Sainsbury (J), Lloyds Banking Group, Glencore, Aviva, SSE, Imperial Brands, Whitbread, Associated British Foods, British American Tobacco and Howden Joinery gained 1.9 to 3.3%.

Entain, Bunzl, Coca-Cola Europacific Partners and Antofagasta closed weak.

In the German market, Fresenius Medical Care gained nearly 4%. RWE, Puma, Bayer, BMW, MTU Aero Engines, E.ON, Fresenius, Rheinmetall, Continental, Vonovia and Commerzbank gained 1.3 to 3.1%.

Heidelberg Materials, Zalando, Allianz, Covestro and BASF closed weak.

In the French market, Kering rallied nearly 4%. Orange gained about 3.8%, while Michelin, Carrefour, Engie, Eurofins Scientific, Credit Agricole, Sanofi, LVMH, Stellantis, Bouygues and Teleperformance ended higher by 1 to 2.3%.

In economic news, data from Destatis showed producer prices in Germany fell 0.9% on a yearly basis in April, following a 0.2% drop in March. This was the second consecutive decrease and also marked the biggest fall since October. Prices were expected to drop more moderately by 0.6%.

Month-on-month, producer prices were down 0.6% compared to a 0.7% drop in March.

The annual fall reflects 6.4% decline in energy prices. By contrast, non-durable and durable consumer goods grew 3.2% and 1.4%, respectively.

Capital goods prices advanced 3.2%, while intermediate goods prices grew only 0.3% from the last year.

Eurozone construction output rose marginally in March, first estimates from Eurostat revealed. Production in construction climbed 0.1% on a monthly basis in March, reversing a 1.2% fall in February.

Year-on-year, construction output decreased 1.1% compared to a fall of 0.6% in February. Construction output in the EU27 edged up 0.1% in March from April but declined 0.7% from the same period last year.

The euro area current account surplus rose to a nine-month high in March on rising goods trade surplus and primary income, data from the European Central Bank showed.

The current account surplus rose to EUR 51 billion in March from EUR 41 billion in February. This was the highest since June 2024, when the surplus totaled EUR 54.5 billion.