BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks rose from near-seven-year lows on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) announced the launch of a €750 billion ($820 billion) emergency bond purchase scheme to soften the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
Massive stimulus measures already announced by central banks and governments around the world also helped offer some respite after recent string of losses.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 was up 0.7 percent at 281.63 after losing 3.9 percent in the previous session.
The German DAX rose half a percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.2 percent, while France's CAC 40 index jumped as much as 2.5 percent.
Osram Licht slumped 12 percent. The lighting manufacturer said it does not expect to achieve its corporate targets for the current 2020 financial year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lufthansa soared 5.6 percent. The airline said, for fiscal 2020, the magnitude of the expected decline in adjusted EBIT is currently not predictable.
MorphoSys gained 1 percent despite widening its FY19 loss.
Hugo Boss gave up 6.3 percent. The luxury fashion house announced that it has temporarily closed a large number of retail stores as well as many points-of-sale at important partners in Europe and North America, as a result of global spread of COVID-19.
HeidelbergCement was down over 5 percent. The company said, due to the fast spread of the coronavirus, a valid outlook on the 2020 business year is currently not possible.
Tobacco company BAT, beverages company Diageo and consumer goods firm Unilever all were moving higher in London.
Luxury brand Burberry Group fell 3 percent after a warning that sales have halved since 24 January.
Next Plc shares jumped 4.3 percent. The company reported that its profit before tax for fiscal year ended January 2020 increased 2 percent to 748.5 million pounds from 733.6 million pounds last year.
Regarding the coronavirus stress test, the company said it is concluded that the business could sustain the loss of more than 1 billion pounds or 25 percent of annual full price sales.
Engineer Meggitt slumped 9 percent after issuing a trading update.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX
© 2020 AFX News
