European Shares Rise As Energy Stocks Surge After Surprise OPEC Move

(RTTNews) - European stocks were seeing modest gains on Monday after the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation rose less than expected in February, boosting optimism policymakers might hit the pause button on rate hikes in May.

Meanwhile, investors shrugged off data showing that activity at struggling factories across the eurozone fell further last month.

S&P Global's final manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) fell to 47.3 in March from February's 48.5 and just ahead of a preliminary reading of 47.1.

Elsewhere in the U.K., the March final manufacturing was finalized at 47.9, down from February's 7-month of 49.3.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up 0.2 percent at 458.93 after rising 0.7 percent on Friday.

Oil & gas companies surged as a surprise announcement by OPEC+ and its allies to cut production lifted crude prices up more than 5 percent. BP Plc, Shell, TotalEnergies and Eni jumped 3-4 percent.

British ailing cinema chain Cineworld Group plunged 30 percent after announcing a debt restructuring with its biggest lenders.

Imperial Brands advanced 1.6 percent. The tobacco firm said it has instructed Barclays Capital Securities to purchase up to 500 million pounds of its shares as part of the second tranche of its share buyback drive of up to 1 billion pounds announced in 2022.

Italian bank Unicredit rallied 2.5 percent after announcing it has first tranche of its share buyback program of up to 2.34 billion euros.

Danish transport and logistics firm DSV tumbled 3.5 percent after a share placement. UBS gave up 2.4 percent on reports that the Swiss lender may cut up to 36,000 jobs worldwide.