European Shares Inch Higher Led By Miners And Automakers

European shares were moving higher on Tuesday as traders returned to their desks after the long Easter holiday weekend.

After the latest U.S. jobs data pointe to a tight labor market, investors looked ahead to U.S. inflation, industrial production and retail sales data this week for additional clues on the economic and rate outlook.

Minutes of the Fed’s March 21-22 policy meeting also remain on investors’ radar.

Closer home, the Eurozone Sentix Investor Confidence index improved to -8.7 in April from -11.1 in February.

Separate data showed U.K. retail sales grew slightly less than the previous month in March despite lower volumes year-on-year.

Eurozone retail sales data is awaited, with sales expected to fall by 0.8 percent in February month-on-month.

The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.6 percent at 461.70 while the German DAX, France’s CAC 40 and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 were up between 0.4 percent and 0.8 percent.

Miners Anglo American, Antofagasta and Glencore all rose around 3 percent on expectations of potential stimulus from China.

German automaker BMW added 1.6 percent after posting significant growth in its global sales of fully electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2023.

Evotec SE fell 2.3 percent. The biotech firm is on high alert after a late week cyberattack prompted the company to shut down its network.

Scottish oil and gas firm Harbour Energy dropped 1 percent while BP Plc was up 0.8 percent after they have entered into an agreement to develop the Viking CCS transportation and storage project.

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