European shares jumped on Thursday, with China-exposed stocks such as luxury and miners outperforming on news of aggressive Chinese economic stimulus, while chip stocks also advanced following US firm Micron’s strong revenue forecast.
The benchmark Stoxx 600 index closed at an all-time closing high.
Chinese leaders pledged to deploy “necessary fiscal spending” to meet this year’s economic growth target of roughly 5 per cent, acknowledging new problems and raising market expectations for fresh stimulus on top of measures announced this week.
Meanwhile, Deutsche Bank said it now anticipated a faster European Central Bank (ECB) rate-cutting cycle, forecasting back-to-back quarter-point rate cuts starting from December.
Dublin
The Iseq climbed 1.6 per cent in line with the positive trend across Europe, as the five most-active stocks on the day all advanced. Ryanair closed 1.1 per cent higher at €17.04, while it was a good session for the banks, with Bank of Ireland swelling 4.9 per cent to €10.78 and AIB adding 2.5 per cent to €5.49.
There was also a gain for Kingspan, which rose 0.8 per cent to €86.95, while Kerry Group finished 0.5 per cent higher at €93.65.
London
The FTSE 100 closed 0.2 per cent up, lagging its European peers as energy giants slipped tracking declining crude oil prices, which offset gains from China-exposed pockets of the market following Beijing’s latest pledge for more policy measures.
Heavyweight energy shares eased 4.4 per cent as crude oil prices dropped more than 2 per cent on a media report that Saudi Arabia will give up its price target in preparation for raising output, and as Opec+ looked set to raise output in December.
Shares of China-exposed luxury firms jumped across Europe, with UK’s Burberry gaining 8.7 per cent, while Watches of Switzerland jumped 11.1 per cent after Deutsche Bank upgraded the stock to “buy” from hold and raised its price target.
These moves boosted the domestically-focused FTSE 250 midcap index up 1.2 per cent.
Asia-focused lenders HSBC and Standard Chartered rose 2.1 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively, while insurer Prudential jumped surged 6.1 per cent.
Europe
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 1.3 per cent higher at 525.61 points, an all-time closing high and 0.2 per cent away from its intraday record high.
China-exposed luxury firms such as LVMH and Hermes gained around 9 per cent each. A gauge of ten of Europe’s biggest luxury firms rose 6.5 per cent. Mining stocks also jumped 4.3 per cent on elevated base metal prices.
Swatch Group jumped 12.1 per cent with a trader pointing to a report stating that the Swiss watchmaker could be delisted.
Germany’s Commerzbank gained 6.9 per cent after the lender confirmed its strategy until 2027, while H&M shed 4.6 per cent after the world’s second-biggest listed fashion retailer scrapped its margin target for 2024.
US
Wall Street’s main indexes rose in choppy trading on Thursday, with the S&P 500 hitting an intraday record high after Micron’s upbeat forecast rekindled the hype around artificial intelligence, and a soft jobless claims report soothed worries about the labor market.
Micron Technology jumped 12.9 per cent after the memory chip maker forecast higher-than-expected first-quarter revenue, underscoring that demand for memory chips used in AI computing was robust.
Investors also mulled a Labor Department report that showed jobless claims dropped to a four-month low last week, while the final reading of gross domestic product confirmed that the US economy grew 3 per cent in the second quarter.
Southwest Airlines climbed 10.7 per cent after the carrier raised its third-quarter revenue forecast, while Accenture gained 4.5 per cent after the IT services provider forecast annual revenue above estimates.
Additional reporting: Reuters
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