Major European Markets Close Higher

(RTTNews) - The major European markets closed higher on Wednesday, reacting positively to data showing an improvement in U.K.'s economic growth, and a slew of encouraging earnings updates.

Uncertainty about the outlook for Federal Reserve's interest rate trajectory over a near term rendered the mood a bit cautious and limited markets' gains.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.16%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.31% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.62% up, while Germany's DAX edged down 0.02%. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.24%.

Other markets in Europe ended mixed. Austria, Greece, Norway, Spain and Sweden ended higher.

Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Turkiye closed weak, while Netherlands ended flat.

In the UK market, Antofagasta and Anglo American Plc gained more than 5%. Glencore rallied about 3.5%, while Entain, United Utilities, Flutter Entertainment, Endeavour, BP, Aviva, Convatec Group, Royal Dutch Shell, British American Tobacco, Severn Trent, Reckitt Benckiser, National Grid and Beazley gained 1 to 2%.

JD Sports Fashion, Vodafone, St. James's Place, Admiral Group, RightMove, RS Group, Rentokil Initial, IHG, Standard Chartered, Marks & Spencer, Hikma Pharmaceuticals, Diploma, Howden Joinery and Frasers Group lost 1 to 3.2%.

In the German market, Zalando soared 19% after the company said it would buy back up to 100 million euros of shares, starting today. The company has also said that it would focus on quality brands to pursue a bigger shares of its customers' wallet.

E.ON surged more than 6% and Adidas gained about 4.5% despite reporting an annual loss for 2023.

MTU Aero Engines, HeidelbergCement, Commerzbank and RWE ended higher by 1 to 1.5%.

Volkswagen ended down by nearly 6% despite reporting robust financial results in a challenging environment in 2023.

Porsche, Deutsche Boerse, Siemens Healthineers, Siemens Energy, Covestro, Qiagen and Mercedes-Benz lost 1 to 2.5%.

In Paris, BNP Paribas, Schneider Electric, Total Energies, Hermes International, Thales, L'Oreal and Renault gained 1 to 2.3%.

Alstom, WorldLine and STMicroElectronics ended lower by 1.7 to 2.3%. Stellantis and Legrand also ended weak.

On the economic front, the UK economy rebounded in January driven by services and construction output, the Office for National Statistics reported. Gross domestic product posted an expansion of 0.2% in January, reversing a 0.1% fall in December. The rate came in line with expectations.

The service sector was the largest contributor to the expansion. Services output rebounded 0.2% after a 0.1% fall. Construction output also recovered in January, up 1.1%, reversing a drop of 0.5%.

By contrast, production output decreased 0.2% after a growth of 0.6% in December.

Data from Destatis showed Germany's wholesale prices dropped 3% on a yearly basis, sharper than the 2.7% fall in January. Wholesale prices have been falling since April 2023.

Month-on-month, wholesale prices edged down 0.1%, offsetting the 0.1% rise in January. Prices were expected to grow 0.2%.

Eurozone industrial production declined for the first time in three months in January largely reflecting the weakness in capital goods output, data from Eurostat showed.

Industrial output fell 3.2% on a monthly basis, reversing December's 1.6% increase. This was the first decrease in three months and also came in weaker than economists' forecast of 1.5% fall.