Stoxx 600 reaches new all-time high. H&M jumps more than 13%
The main European indices opened without a defined trend this Wednesday, after yesterday the European reference index, Stoxx 600, reached historic highs and also closed at the highest value ever.
The European benchmark advances 0.07% to 511.43 points – already above the highs reached yesterday at 511.37 points.
Registering the biggest increase is the retail sector, which jumped more than 2%, following H&M, which presented its 2023 results, with operating profits higher than expected, of 2.08 billion Swedish krona (181.44 million euros), above the 1.43 billion expected by analysts. The Swedish retailer jumps 13.14%.
Among other market movements, the Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena rose 0.68% after the Italian government sold around 650 million euros in shares in the financial institution, as part of the Executive’s plan to exit the bank’s capital .
“European stocks are enjoying a nice cocktail,” Alexandre Hezez, investment director at Group Richelieu, told Bloomberg. While economic growth is resilient in the Eurozone, it is still soft enough to allow the ECB to start cutting rates in June, he further argued.
Among the main indices in Western Europe, the German Dax adds 0.19% and the Spanish IBEX 35 gains 0.43%. In Amsterdam, the AEX registered an increase of 0.22%. On the negative side, the French CAC-40 drops 0.1%, the Italian FTSEMIB drops 0.06% and the British FTSE 100 drops 0.14%.
