Stoxx 600 at all-time highs and on track for best quarter in a year
The main European indices opened mostly higher this Thursday, after yesterday the European reference index, Stoxx 600, reached historic highs of 512.45 points and also closed at the highest value ever.
The European benchmark adds 0.23% to 512.93 points and is on track for the best quarter in a year. Investors now hope that the “rally” will extend to other smaller listed companies, given the optimism surrounding the course of monetary policy and economic growth.
Registering the biggest increase is the travel sector and banking, which both gain close to 1%. On the negative side is technology and “utilities” (water, electricity, gas).
Among the main market movements, Soitec plunges more than 12%, after the company revealed prospects for this year that are significantly below what analysts expected.
Spirent Communications jumped more than 10%, after Keysight Technologies made an offer for the telecommunications company, surpassing the offer from another British company, Viavi Solutions.
Throughout this month the “rally” in the European stock market has spread to other listed companies other than the “megacaps”, unlike in the United States where gains continue to be centered on large technology companies.
The Stoxx 600 has not lost 2% for more than 186 days – the longest series since 2017 and the fourth longest since its creation in 1998. And, in historical terms, April is the strongest month in terms of appreciation.
“The real catalyst for the second quarter is for inflation to continue to fall and for central banks to effectively reduce interest rates in June, because if that doesn’t happen it’s quite negative,” Arnaud Cayla, vice-president of Cholet Dupont Asset, told Bloomberg Management.
“The negotiation is based on a perfect scenario, so there is no room for error”, he added.
Among the main indices in Western Europe, the German Dax adds 0.14%, the French CAC-40 increases 0.34%, the Italian FTSEMIB increases 0.07% and the British FTSE 100 increases 0.31%. In Amsterdam, the AEX registered an increase of 0.42%.
On the negative side, the Spanish IBEX 35 loses 0.31% and the Lisbon PSI drops 0.34%.
