European Shares Gain As Eurozone Composite PMI Hits 12-month High

(RTTNews) - European stocks rose slightly on Wednesday as investors looked ahead to Thursday's ECB meeting and the release of U.S. labor market data on Friday for directional cues.

The European Central Bank is expected to ease borrowing costs by 25 basis points from the present record levels of 4 percent.

In economic releases, the final reading of the HCOB eurozone composite PMI stood at 52.2 in May, down marginally from the preliminary reading of 52.3 but up from 51.7 in April.

That was the highest rate of growth since May 2023 as inflation continued to cool.

Elsewhere, France's industrial output advanced 0.5 percent on a monthly basis in April, reversing a 0.2 percent fall in the previous month, data from the statistical office INSEE showed. This was the strongest rise in five months.

The pan European STOXX 600 was up half a percent at 519.63 after falling half a percent in the previous session.

The German DAX climbed 0.6 percent, France's CAC 40 edged up 0.4 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent.

In corporate news, Zara-owner Inditex surged 4.7 percent after posting sales and profit growth in its first-quarter results. Swedish radiation therapy equipment maker Elekta AB plunged more than 15 percent after Q4 EBIT missed estimates.

British gas owner Centrica tumbled 4.3 percent after saying its performance so far this year has been in line with analyst expectations.

KPN rose 1.4 percent after it signed an agreement with Dutch pension fund ABP to create a new tower company (TowerCo).

Office owner and operator Workspace Group rallied 2.3 percent despite widening its pretax loss.

Drug maker AstraZeneca gained 1 percent as it announced the conclusion of its acquisition of clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Fusion Pharmaceuticals.