The US-EU energy deal brought soft gains to European markets

The US-EU deal on additional US liquefied natural gas supplies to Europe, which ended Friday’s close, sent investors back into European markets, while investors continued to assess central bank monetary policy moves.

Russia’s announcement in the afternoon that the first phase of the “special military operation”, as he described it, in Ukraine has largely been completed and that it will now focus its efforts on its full “liberation” also contributed to the improvement of the investment climate. Donbass area in the east of the country.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says Russian-backed separatists now control 93 percent of the Luhansk region and 54 percent of the Donetsk region, the two self-proclaimed People’s Republics recently recognized by Moscow and collectively known as Donbass.

“The main objectives of the first phase of the operation have generally been achieved,” said Sergei Rudskoi, head of the General Operations Directorate of the Russian General Staff.

“The combat potential of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been significantly reduced, which ιστά makes it possible to focus our main efforts on achieving the main goal, the liberation of Donbass,” he added.

Investors, however, continued to monitor Western-level diplomatic contacts in Brussels, which are being finalized today, to see if new sanctions are imminent against Russia for its ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Indicators – Statistics

In the midst of this climate, European markets closed higher but far from the highs of the day.

In particular, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.10% higher at 453.54 points, with the oil and gas sector providing support with the profits of 1.2% recorded, offsetting the pressures from the banking sector. Similar gains were recorded by the index of high capitalization Stoxx 50, which completed the day at 3,867.73 points, with an increase of 0.11%.

In the individual European boards, in Frankfurt the DAX closed the trades with an increase of 0.22% to 14,305.76 points, while in Paris the CAC 40 did not manage to maintain the previous gains but closing marginally lower (-0.03%) at 6,553 , 68 units. In London, the FTSE 100 gained 0.21% and finished the day at 7,483.35 points.

The final picture is better in the European region, where in Milan the FTSE MIB closed with gains of 0.64% at 24,558.74 points, and in Madrid the IBEX 35 strengthened by 0.31% to 8,330.60 points.

Markets in both Europe and the world, however, continue to assess the statements of Fed officials who speak of the possibility of adopting an even more aggressive stance with higher increases in bank interest rates, in the face of rapid inflation.

In single-share trading, Sweden’s Trelleborg jumped more than 23% to the top of the European blue chips after Yokohama Rubber announced it was acquiring its tire industry for $ 2.3 billion.

On the other hand, the highest losses were recorded by the culinary company Rational, which recorded a “dip” of 11%.