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European stocks were seeing modest gains on Thursday ahead of a long Easter holiday weekend.<\/p>\n
Major European markets<\/span> will be shut for two days on Friday and Monday to celebrate Easter.<\/p>\n In economic releases, German retail sales posted an unexpected decline in February. On a yearly basis, retail sales decreased 2.7 percent in real terms, worse than economists’ forecast of 0.8 percent drop.<\/p>\n The British pound edged lower against peers in the wake of dovish comments from BoE’s Bailey about rate cuts.<\/p>\n Also, data released earlier today showed the U.K. economy<\/span> contracted in the fourth quarter, as initially estimated.<\/p>\n Gross domestic product fell by unrevised 0.3 percent after a 0.1 percent drop in the third quarter, according to final data from the Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n The statistical office thus confirmed a technical recession towards the end of 2023. Consequently, the economy grew only 0.1 percent in 2023, much weaker than the 4.3 percent expansion seen in 2022.<\/p>\n The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.3 percent at 513.03 after inching up 0.1 percent on Wednesday. <\/p>\n The German DAX edged up 0.2 percent, France’s CAC 40 rose 0.4 percent and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 added 0.3 percent. <\/p>\n A decline in the euro to parity with the dollar beckoned ahead of critical U.S. inflation data release and Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Friday.<\/p>\n In corporate news, JD Sports Fashion jumped 6 percent. The British retailer of sports, fashion and outdoor brands said it expects full-year profit before tax and adjusted items to be in line with its outlook of 915 million pounds- 935 million pounds.<\/p>\n Renault rose 1.1 percent in Paris. Following a share buyback program announced by Nissan on March 27, Renault Group sold 99.13 million shares back to Nissan, or about 2.5 percent of Nissan’s capital amounting to 358 million euros.<\/p>\n Casino shares plummeted 64 percent as the retailer announced the effective completion of its financial restructuring.<\/p>\n Spirent Communications soared 11 percent as the telecommunications firm agreed to Keysight Technologies’ offer valuing the firm at 1.16 mln pounds ($1.46 bln).<\/p>\n Stratec SE shares fell 10 percent. The German maker of analyzer and automation systems for In-Vitro-Diagnostic registered a decline in net profit for the full year, due to a fall in sales and increased expenses.<\/p>\n Kontron, a IoT technology<\/span> company, lost 4.4 percent after announcing its full-year results for the fiscal year 2023. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n Business News<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Data from Destatis revealed that Germany’s retail sales decreased 1.9 percent from January, confounding expectations for an increase of 0.3 percent.<\/p>\n