European stocks closed higher on Wednesday as traders tried to assimilate a new batch of financial data while watching Covid’s latest boom on the continent.
European investors continue to watch the sharp resurgence of the Covid epidemic in the region this week, with more countries considering tighter restrictions to curb growing infections. Last examples are Slovakia, which imposed travel restrictions for the next two weeks and Denmark which restores the obligation to use a mask in MMM.
Germany is expected to decide on tougher measures on Wednesday amid rising cases there, and France recorded more than 30,000 new daily cases on Tuesday for the first time since August.
In political news, the German parties agreed to form a tripartite coalition after almost two months of talks. The deal will see Olaf Soltz, the center-left Social Democrats’ candidate, become Germany’s next chancellor, replacing Angela Merkel after 16 years at the helm of Germany.
On the board, the pan-European Stoxx 600 gained 0.1% to 479.69 points. Telecommunications shares rose 1.2% to top earnings while car shares sank 1.5%.
On the rest of the board, the German DAX lost 0.37% to 15,878.39 points, the British FTSE 100 gained 0.27% to 7,286.32 and the French CAC-40 closed with losses of 0.03% to 7,042.23 points.
In the region, the Spanish IBEX-35 lost 0.26% and the Italian FTSE MIB 0.63%.
It is recalled that the composite PMI of IHS Markit strengthened to 55.8 points in November from 54.2 points in October, exceeding the estimates of analysts who placed the index at 53.2 points.
The German business climate worsened for the fifth consecutive month in November, as supply problems in the manufacturing sector and rising coronavirus cases overshadowed growth prospects for Europe’s largest economy. The Ifo Institute said the business climate index fell to 96.5 points from 97.7 points in October. Analysts expected a drop to 96.6 points.
Meanwhile, the climate in manufacturing sector in France in November, despite supply problems and the spread of the Delta mutation across Europe. The manufacturing climate stood at 109 points in November, up from 107 points in October, according to Insee. Estimates spoke of 106 points.
In business news, United Utilities Group announced higher pre-tax profits for the first half of the year, as consumption recovered, and predicted that revenues would increase by 2% throughout the year. The NWF water company reported pre-tax profit of 21 212.7 million ($ 284.5 million) in the six months to September 30, up from 201 201.1 million in the first half. of the year 2021.
In terms of individual stock price movements, Telecom Italia’s share price jumped 15.6% after a report that the American private equity giant KKR is considering increasing its takeover bid for Italy’s largest telephone company.
Contrary to the bottom of the European blue chip index, the British Genus plunged 10% after the update of its transactions, which showed that the profits for the whole year before taxes would probably be moderately lower than the previous estimates.
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