European Shares Inch Higher With UK And French Elections In Focus

(RTTNews) - European stocks rose on Thursday as voting began across polling stations in the U.K., with polls predicting a historic win for the Labour party.

Elsewhere, investors remain hopeful that the far-right National Rally (RN) party would not get a majority of seats in the French parliament.

France's leftist and centrist parties have pulled hundreds of candidates from Sunday's high-stakes election in a coordinated attempt to prevent the RN from ascending to power.

The centrists and the left-wingers hope that their consolidation can prevent a clean sweep for the RN.

The dollar edged lower in thin holiday trade as softer-than-expected U.S. economic data fueled speculation that the Federal Reserve could slash interest rates in September.

Closer home, investors shrugged off data that showed German factory orders logged an unexpected decline in May due to the decrease in foreign demand.

Factory orders declined 1.6 percent month-on-month in May, sharper than the revised 0.6 percent decrease in April, Destatis reported.

This was the fifth consecutive decline and also came in contrast to economists' forecast of 0.5 percent growth.

Year-on-year, new orders registered a sharp 8.6 percent decline in May compared to a moderate 1.8 percent drop in April.

The pan European STOXX 600 edged up 0.4 percent to 516.95 after rising 0.7 percent on Wednesday.

The German DAX gained 0.3 percent, France's CAC 40 climbed 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 added 0.8 percent.

French banks BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole and Societe Generale rallied 2-3 percent ahead of a French government bond sale.

Barclays shares rose 1.4 percent. Barclays Bank Ireland has agreed the sale of certain assets and liabilities, which together comprise its German consumer finance business to BAWAG, a wholly owned subsidiary of BAWAG Group AG.

Spectris jumped 2.6 percent. The instrumentation company has agreed to acquire SciAps Incorporated for consideration of up to $260 million comprising up-front consideration of $200 million plus a deferred element of up to $60 million payable on the delivery of agreed financial metrics.

Smith & Nephew soared 7.2 percent after activist investor Cevian Capital revealed a 5 percent stake in the medical equipment company.

Nordex SE shares rose over 3 percent after an announcement that DenkerWulf has ordered seven N149/5.X turbines.