Europe close: German and French stocks jump

(Sharecast News) - European stock markets were mostly higher on Thursday, as financial markets digested news that talks between the US, Europe, Ukraine and Russia were set to get underway.



The pan-regional Stoxx 600 index rose 1.09% to 553.75, whilst Germany's Dax jumped 2.09% to 22,612.02.

France's Cac-40 gained 1.52% to 8,164.11, but the Spanish Ibex 35 ended up by just 0.19% at 12,936.30.

The US dollar fell 4.79% against the Russian rouble, as the euro added 0.75% to 1.0473 US dollars.

Stocks were also supported by investors' belief that the US President's tough talk on tariffs was more "of a negotiating tactic", said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

Earlier, Donald Trump had announced that reciprocal trade tariffs would go into effect on 1 April.

In other economic news, the UK economy unexpectedly grew at a quarterly pace of 0.1% over the three months ending in December, beating expectations for a 0.1% contraction, according to an official preliminary estimate.

Meanwhile, German inflation was confirmed at 2.3% in January due to lower food and energy prices.

However, the Eurozone's ailing manufacturing sector ended 2024 on the back foot, official data showed, after industrial production fell by more than expected.

According to first estimates from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, industrial production fell by 1.1%, reversing November's 0.4% uplift. Analysts had expected a smaller 0.6% decline in the single currency bloc.

In equity news, Dutch payments company Adyen surged 14%er full-year earnings came in above market expectations.

Siemens shares were higher after the German technology group reported better-than-expected first-quarter profits.

Nestle shares rose after the multinational food company posted a forecast-beating rise in annual sales growth due to price hikes.

Finnish oil refiner and biofuel maker Neste slumped after the company said it would axe around 600 jobs as market oversupply hit quarterly earnings.