BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - European stocks closed higher on Thursday with investors reacting positively to monetary policy announcements from the Bank of England and the Swiss National Bank.
The BoE today retained its key policy rate for the seventh straight session. Policymakers said they remained prepared to adjust monetary policy as warranted by economic data to return inflation to the 2% target sustainably.
The SNB lowered its key policy rate by 25 basis points for the second consecutive meeting on Thursday, citing easing underlying inflationary pressures.
The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.93%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.82%, Germany's DAX and France's CAC 40 ended higher by 1.03% and 1.34%, respectively. Switzerland's SMI closed up by 0.56%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkiye all ended on firm note.
Technology stocks topped the gainers list, with ASM International surging more than 5 percent after Morgan Stanley upgraded the stock's rating to 'overweight' from 'equal weight.
In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion rallied more than 5%. Fresnillo, Land Securities and Antofagasta surged 4.3 to 4.5%.
WPP, Smith (DS), Rolls-Royce Holdings, Natwest Group, Scottish Mortgage, Halma, Phoenix Group Holdings, Sainsbury (J) and Kingfisher gained 2 to 3%.
Ocado Group tanked more than 12%. Hargreaves Lansdown and United Utilities both ended down 1.65%.
In the German market, Sartorius rallied more than 4.5%. Siemens Energy gained about 3.5%. Adidas ended nearly 3% up. SAP, MTU Aero Engines, Puma, Vonovia, Merck, Siemens Healthineers, Bayer, Rheinmetall, BASF, Commerzbank, RWE, Siemens, Covestro, Porsche and Deutsche Post gained 1 to 2%.
Henkel and Fresenius ended on a weak note.
In the French market, Capgemini, Unibail Rodamco, Kering, Engie, BNP Paribas, Essilor, Thales, Veolia, Hermes International, Vinci, Edenred, Pernod Ricard and ArcelorMittal ended with strong gains.
Danone declined sharply after announcing it is targeting like-for-like sales growth of 3-5 percent for the 2025 to 2028 period.
Pessimism among euro area consumers lessened for a fifth month in a row in June and their confidence was the highest in over two years as the European Central Bank cut interest rates for the first time in five years.
The flash consumer confidence index for Eurozone rose to -14.0 from -14.3 in May, preliminary results of the monthly survey by the European Commission showed Thursday. That was in line with economists' expectations. The latest reading was the highest since February 2022, when the score was -9.4.
Germany's producer prices continued to fall in May, though at the weakest pace in the current sequence of decreases, which began in July last year, data from Destatis revealed.
Producer prices decreased 2.2% on a yearly basis in May, slower than the 3.3% fall in April. Economists had forecast an annual fall of 2%.
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