EUROPE’S benchmark index hit a new record high on Friday (Mar 1) propelled by rate-sensitive stocks, with investors continuing to cheer upbeat corporate earnings while looking past data that showed core prices remained stubbornly high.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.6 per cent up at an all-time high, logging its sixth straight weekly gain.
Germany’s DAX climbed 0.3 per cent, also scaling a fresh record high, emerging as the best performer among its top regional peers so far in 2024.
Rate-sensitive real estate and technology led sectoral gains, with an over 1 per cent jump each, while energy too gained on the back of a 2 per cent advance in oil prices ahead of an Opec+ decision on supply agreements.
On the earnings front, Daimler Truck raised its dividend after posting better-than-expected pre-tax 2023 earnings, sending its shares surging 18.1 per cent after predicting 2024 earnings well above analyst forecasts.
The Stoxx 600 briefly took a hit after data showed eurozone inflation dipped last month but underlying price growth proved to be sticky. Another data set showed manufacturing activity continued to contract last month, although firms were optimistic about the year ahead, underscoring some economic concerns.
“Core inflation is proving a lot stickier than we thought… we now struggle to see the European Central Bank (ECB) cutting rates in April and moving our call to June,” Pantheon Macroeconomics analysts noted.
The inflation figure also prompted Goldman Sachs to push back its ECB rate-cut forecast to June from April.
The data comes a day after US prices logged their smallest annual increase in three years, keeping mid-year Federal Reserve rate cut prospects alive and boosting global market sentiment.
Among other major movers, Grifols jumped 18.4 per cent after the Spanish drug maker released a new 2024 cash flow target.
British broadcaster ITV climbed 14.3 per cent after selling its 50 per cent stake in streaming service BritBox International to its joint venture partner BBC Studios for £255 million (S$433.7 million).
On the flip side, Kuehne+Nagel slumped 13.5 per cent after the Swiss logistics group posted a 49 per cent drop in annual operating profit and said it expected the Red Sea crisis to impact coming quarters.
Saint Gobain lost 3.7 per cent after difficult market conditions dragged the French construction materials group’s 2023 annual sales down.
Volkswagen dropped 4.9 per cent after forecast sales growth would slow in 2024, while Ocado shed 6.9 per cent as brokerages trimmed the British online supermarket stock’s target price after Thursday’s results. REUTERS
