European Stocks Close Higher As China Reopening Fuels Growth Hopes

(RTTNews) - Despite recent hawkish comments from some Fed officials that raised concerns about tighter monetary policy from the U.S. central bank, European stocks closed higher on Wednesday as optimism over China's reopening helped underpin sentiment.

After Fed Chair Jerome Powell refrained from commenting on rate policy at a symposium, investors now await the release of U.S. inflation data on Thursday for additional clues on the rate outlook.

Investors also digested the World Bank's latest Global Economic Prospects report.

The world economy is set to experience a sharp slowdown in growth this year on the back of elevated inflation, higher interest rates, subdued investment and disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine, the World Bank said.

The global economy is forecast to expand 1.7% this year, which would be the third weakest growth in nearly three decades, the World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report. The outlook was revised down from 3% estimated previously. The projection for next year was also lowered, down to 2.7% from 3%.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.38%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged 0.4%, Germany's DAX gained 1.17% and France's CAC 40 climbed 0.8%, while Switzerland's SMI advanced 0.75%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia and Sweden ended with sharp to moderate gains.

Czech Republic, Finland, Greece and Spain closed marginally up.

Denmark, Poland and Turkiye closed weak. Ireland and Norway edged down slightly.

In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion rallied about 7%. Frasers Group, St. Jame's Place, Segro, Unite Group, Kingfisher, Weir Group, Spirax-Sarco Engineering, British Land Co., WPP, IAG, Scottish Mortgage, Next, Schrodders, Hargreaves Lansdown, Berkeley Group Holdings and Halma gained 2 to 4%.

Admiral Group plunged nearly 7%. M&G ended almost 3% down. Legal & General, Aviva, Smith & Nephew, BAE Systems, Sainsbury (J), AstraZeneca, Imperial Brands, RS Group and Coca-Cola lost 1 to 2.3%.

Shares of insurer Direct Line tanked more than 26% after the company announced it would ditch its final dividend for 2022. It follows a surge of December claims due to bad weather, inflation and supply chain issues taking it to an underwriting loss for the year.

In Paris, Kering, Unibail Rodamco, Vivendi, Renault and LVMH gained 2.2 to 3.3%.

Pernod Ricard, Air Liquide, Legrand, Veolia, Dassault Systemes and Schneider Electric also ended notably higher.

Eurofins Scientific drifted down nearly 5%. Thales ended lower by about 2%, while Societe Generale, Airbus Group, Teleperformance and Orange closed 1 to 1.4% down.

In the German market, Deutsche Wohnen soared more than 8%. Vonovia rallied 6.3% and Merck gained nearly 5%. Zalando surged 4.3%.

Bayer, Siemens Healthineers, Adidas, Puma, Brenntag, RWE, Continental, Linde, Fresenius, SAP, HelloFresh, Sartorius, Siemens and BMW gained 1.2 to 4%.