Western European stock indexes are rising in trading on Tuesday, recovering from a fall the day before.
Investors welcomed the news that Chinese authorities plan to actively encourage vaccination against coronavirus among the adult population. Experts believe that such a measure may prove to be key to the removal of anti-Covids restrictions.
At the same time, the market expects that yesterday’s mass protests in Chinese cities may prompt authorities to relax restrictions. “We don’t assume that China will publicly abandon its zero-tolerance coronavirus policy, but we are hoping for some regional easing,” said Jefferies analyst Mohit Kumar.
The Stoxx Europe 600 composite index of the region’s largest companies was up 0.44% to 439.77 points by 11:00 a.m. Ksk.
Germany’s DAX is up 0.24%, Britain’s FTSE 100 is up 0.88%, France’s CAC 40 is up 0.34%, Italy’s FTSE MIB is up 0.28% and Spain’s IBEX 35 is up 0.14%.
Traders are waiting for the publication of important statistical data from European countries. At 12:00 noon the European Commission is scheduled to publish a composite index of confidence in the euro area economy for November. At 15:00 KSC the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) will release a preliminary report on consumer price changes in November.
Meanwhile, inflation in Spain slowed in November to its lowest since January thanks to a slower rise in fuel and electricity prices. Consumer prices, calculated in accordance with EU standards, in the country this month rose by 6.6% year on year, compared with 7.3% in October, showed the preliminary data of the Spanish statistics office INE. Experts polled by The Wall Street Journal, on average, expected a rise of 7.4%.
Shares of British airline easyJet PLC fell by 2.4%. Despite the fact that the air carrier cut its pre-tax loss in fiscal 2022, the figure was worse than experts expected.
French energy company Electricite de France (EDF) SA received a new credit line worth 2.2 billion euros, which is expected to increase the company’s financial flexibility in the coming years. EDF stock quotes are stable in trading in France.
The stock of British pharmaceutical AstraZeneca PLC is up 0.6%. The company announced the purchase of biotech Neogene Therapeutics Inc. for $320 million.
Shares of Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASM International N.V. (+6.5%), British insurance company Prudential PLC (+5%) and mining company Rio Tinto PLC (+3.7%) are emerging as growth leaders among Stoxx 600 components.
