The main European indices closed with small gains, on a day marked by the Bank of England’s historic interest rate hike, the biggest since 1995.
In particular, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed at 439.06 points, up just 0.17%, with the travel and leisure sector jumping 1.9%, while the energy sector fell 1.3%.
The Stoxx 50 of high capitalization fared relatively better with a rise of 0.6% to 3,574 points, while in the individual European tables the German DAX closed at +0.55% and 13,662 points, the French CAC 40 strengthened by 0.64% in 6,513 points, while the British FTSE 100 remained essentially unchanged with a imperceptible +0.03% and closed at 7,448 points.
The picture was similar in the markets of the region, where in Italy the FTSE MIB ended with a rise of 0.3% to 22,645 points, while in Spain the IBEX 35 strengthened slightly by 0.2% to close at 8,161 points.
The Bank of England today raised interest rates by another 50 basis points, despite warnings of the risk of a prolonged recession, choosing to step up its action in the face of inflation expected to climb to 13%.
Frustrated by the spike in energy prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the central bank’s Monetary Policy Committee voted 8 to 1 in favor of raising interest rates by half a percentage point to 1.75% .
Elsewhere, investors’ eyes remain on corporate results, with French bank Credit Agricole jumping 4.65% after reporting better earnings estimates for the latest quarter, as did BNP Paribas and Societe Generale in previous days. .
German giant Lufthansa rallied more than 6% after returning to operating profit in the second quarter.
Topping the Stoxx 600 was Zalando which saw its stock roar up +13.5% after the German e-retail giant forecast a return to growth in the second half of the year.
Ubisoft followed closely behind, jumping 11% after a Reuters report showed Chinese giant Tencent poised to submit a new bid to acquire the French company.
In contrast, Rolls-Royce sank 9% after reporting a better-than-estimated fall in first-half profit.
Source: Capital
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