European shares snap losing run

European shares rose sharply on Thursday, bouncing from six days of losses as investors snapped up beaten-down stocks, notably those related to commodities. Wall Street also broke a losing run, boosted by trade data and helping the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares advance 0.9 percent to close at 1,104.43 points on Thursday, gaining for the first session since May 31.
The index is down 1.5 percent this year. "It was about time for a bounce after six days," said Bill Dinning, head of investment strategy at Aegon Asset Management in Edinburgh, which has 48.8 billion pounds under management. Total, ENI and BP rose between 1.2 and 1.4 percent.
Miners to rise included Anglo American and Antofagasta, up 2.2 and 2.5 percent respectively. The STOXX Europe 600 Basic Resources Index remains the worst performer this year, down more than 12 percent. The European Central Bank said it opposed forcing private creditors to take part in debt relief for Greece, pushing back against Germany, which has demanded a bond swap to lengthen Greek debt maturities. Across Europe, Britain's FTSE 100 and France's CAC40 rose 0.8 and 1.1 percent respectively; Germany's DAX rose 1.4 percent.
"The reason the DAX is up is the US trade deficit was much less than expected," said Andre Saenger, market strategist at IG Markets in Germany. "And in Germany we've had some good fundamental data here in the last couple of weeks." Retailers were among the top fallers. Home Retail, Britain's biggest household goods retailer, slumped 13.7 percent after saying cash-strapped shoppers had cut back on purchases, raising fears of another downturn in spending.
Among other shares, Weir Group rose 4.8 percent as RBC Capital Markets raised earnings estimates for the British engineer. Dinning said valuations would also support a case for a rise in equities. Equity valuations on Thomson Reuters Datastream showed the STOXX Europe 600 carrying a one-year forward price-to-earnings of 10.6, compared with 12.4 for the US S&P 500.