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European stocks closed on a positive note on Thursday, extending recent gains, after the Federal Reserve announced its widely expected decision to begin tapering its bond purchases in November, but signaled “patience” in raising interest rates, and the Bank of England left its interest rate and QE unchanged.<\/p>\n
Policymakers of the Bank of England decided to maintain its record low interest rate and quantitative easing in a split vote. Seven members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to leave the key interest rate unchanged at 0.10%, while Dave Ramsden and Michael Saunders sought a 15 basis point rate hike, the bank said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Further, the MPC voted 6-3 to retain the existing stock of corporate bond purchases at GBP 20 billion and the government bond purchases target at GBP 875 billion.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced plans to scale back its asset purchases but signaled it won’t be in a hurry to begin raising interest rates.<\/p>\n
Investors also digested a slew of earnings updates and economic data.<\/p>\n
The pan European Stoxx 600 surged up 0.41%. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 advanced 0.43%, while Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 climbed 0.44% and 0.53%, respectively, hitting new record highs in the process. Switzerland’s SMI gained 0.24%.<\/p>\n
Among other markets<\/span> in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden and Turkey closed with sharp to moderate gains.<\/p>\n Greece, Portugal and Spain edged up marginally, while Iceland, Ireland and Russia ended weak.<\/p>\n Higher crude oil prices triggered strong buying in the energy sector.<\/p>\n In the UK market, BT Group soared more than 11%. The telecommunications company confirmed its outlook for this year after reporting a 3% decline in first-half revenue.<\/p>\n JD Sports Fashion, Sage Group, British Land Co., Vodafone Group, Segro, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, Coca-Cola, Experian, Pershing Square Holding, Smith & Nephew, Kingfisher, Whitbread, Fresnillo and B&M European Value Retail gained 2 to 4%.<\/p>\n Shares of medical technology<\/span> group Smith & Nephew gained more than 3% after the group said it would bring its orthopaedics and sports medicine franchises under one leadership team.<\/p>\n Hargreaves Lansdown shares plunged more than 7%. Natwest Group tumbled 5.6%, while Lloyds Group and Barclays shed 4.4% and 4%, respectively. Standard Chartered declined 3% and HSBC Holdings drifted down 2.5%.<\/p>\n In France, Veolia gained more than 4%. The resource management firm confirmed its fiscal 2021 EBITDA view after reporting higher third-quarter results. <\/p>\n Air France-KLM, Renault, Dassault Systemes, STMicroElectronics, Accor, Technip, Hermes International, Vivendi, Thales and Engie gained 1.5 to 4.3%.<\/p>\n Societe Generale closed notably higher after reporting better-than-expected earnings for the third quarter. The lender also said it has appointed a new financial chief.<\/p>\n Publicis Groupe, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas and Legrand ended sharply lower.<\/p>\n In the German market, Zalando climbed more than 4%. Deutsche Post gained about 3% after lifting its EBIT outlook. Fresenius Medical Care, Volkswagen, Siemens Healthineers and Qiagen gained 1.5 to 3%.<\/p>\n German real estate investment trust Alstria Office jumped 17.5% after it announced a takeover bid from Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management.<\/p>\n Deutsche Bank declined nearly 4%. HeidelbergCement, Brenntag, Covestro and BASF also declined sharply.<\/p>\n In the Swiss market, Roche holding rose sharply but pared most of its gains and ended just modestly higher. The stock rallied after buying back its nearly one-third voting stake from rival Novartis for $20.7 billion. Novartis shares edged down marginally, giving up early gains.<\/p>\n In economic releases, data from a purchasing mangers’ survey showing that growth in the euro zone services sector slowed in October.<\/p>\n The final reading for the Eurozone’s services PMI came in at 54.6 in October, well below the 56.4 registered in September and marginally lower than the 54.7 preliminary estimate.<\/p>\n Eurozone producer price inflation increased to 16% in September from 13.4% in August, data from Eurostat showed. Economists had forecast an annual rate of 15.2%.<\/p>\n German factory orders recovered in September but at a slower-than-expected pace, figures from Destatis revealed.<\/p>\n New orders grew 1.3% month-on-month in September, reversing an 8.8% decrease in August. However, this was slower than the 2% expansion expected by economists. On a yearly basis, new order growth eased to 9.7% from 10.4% in August. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n