European shares rise as industrials, financials gain on China optimism

By Amruta Khandekar

(Reuters) – European shares inched higher on Friday as gains in industrial and financial stocks on China-led optimism offset weakness in the energy sector, while Credit Suisse climbed on news of a capital raise.

The region-wide STOXX 600 index was up 0.1% and appeared set to snap a five-day losing streak that was largely driven by concerns about an impending global recession due to sharp interest rate hikes by central banks.

Data on Thursday showing a rise in U.S. weekly jobless claims has raised investor hopes that the Federal Reserve could temper its aggressive stance on rate hikes, with China’s easing of its strict COVID curbs also aiding sentiment.

The next week will be crucial, with interest rate decisions due from the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank as investors hope that recent signs of easing price pressures could pave the way for a downshift in the size of interest rate hikes.

The ECB may raise rates by 50 basis points next week, according to a Reuters poll, following two straight 75 basis point increases.

“It’s uncertainty as to what central banks are likely to do in the new year, not next week that’s prompting a little bit of caution given that most of the economic data that we’re seeing indicate that we are going to see a bit of a slowdown in economic activity,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

Industrial stocks such as Siemens AG were among the biggest boosts to the index, while some China-exposed financials such as Prudential Plc also rose.

Energy stocks led sectoral declines, falling 0.4% dragged down by a fall in shares of heavyweights such as Shell Plc and BP Plc.

Credit Suisse shares rose nearly 3% after the embattled bank hailed a “milestone” in its turnaround plan on Thursday after raising 2.24 billion Swiss francs ($2.39 billion) as part of a 4 billion franc cash call.

(Reporting by Amruta Khandekar; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)