FRANKFURT: Europe’s main index rose on Friday, with a continued boost from healthcare stocks, logging gains for a fourth consecutive session and eking out a gain for a turbulent week that began with a rout for global stocks on fears of a US recession.
The continent-wide STOXX 600 index closed 0.6% higher and briefly reclaiming the 500-point mark during the day.
The index managed to log a slight weekly advance after tumbling in Monday’s session as investors grew worried about a potential economic downturn in the world’s largest economy.
Then Thursday’s US jobs report helped calm investor nerves about labour market weakness, that in part had fuelled the US recession fears.
The French CAC 40, Germany’s DAX, Spain’s IBEX 35, Italy’s FTSE MIB, and Britain’s FTSE 100 all gained between 0.1% and 0.8%.
“Investors are buying the dip... however, with the lack of liquidity in markets, we could see more volatility in the coming months and it could mean that the stock markets could take a step back,” said Teeuwe Mevissen, senior macro strategist at Rabobank.
On the data front, German inflation rose in July to 2.6%, confirming preliminary data, while Italian EU-harmonised consumer prices (HICP) fell 0.9% month-on-month in July.
Healthcare was among the top sectoral gainers, up 1.7%, as Europe’s largest company by market value Nordisk jumped 6.3% to log its second straight daily gain after Wednesday’s rout sparked by a disappointing profit outlook.
The real estate sector topped sectoral gainers, boosted by a 5.5% gain in LEG Immobilien, one of Germany’s largest listed landlords, after it posted a smaller second-quarter loss.
Among others, Germany’s Lanxess jumped 6.3% after generating more cash than expected in second quarter.
Britain’s largest investment platform Hargreaves Lansdown rose 2.3% after agreeing to a 5.4 billion pound takeover by an international consortium, which is betting on grabbing market share in the competitive UK wealth market.
Homebuilder Bellway gained over 3.4% after joining larger rivals in offering an upbeat assessment of the sector’s prospects after the Bank of England cut its benchmark lending rate and the new Labour government promised planning reforms.
Lotus Bakeries jumped around 7% after the Belgian snack food company reported higher first-half revenue and earnings.
On the flip side, UK’s drugmaker Indivior dropped 5% after brokerage Jefferies cut its price target to 1,800p from 2,390p.
Generali lost 2% after the Italy’s top insurer reported largely in-line results , though analysts flagged weaker property and casualty (P&C) segment as a concern.
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