European Stocks Close On Firm Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Tuesday as investors indulged in some strong buying at several counters, shrugging off concerns about imminent interest rate hikes.

Markets looked ahead to U.S. consumer price inflation data, due out on Wednesday. Investors also awaited the Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's confirmation hearing at the Capitol Hill.

Testifying before a Senate committee on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said he expects a normalized supply chain to help ease inflation pressures in 2022. He also said that the central bank stands ready to hike interest rates further than projected to battle consistently high inflation.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.84%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.62%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.1% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.95%, while Switzerland's SMI moved up 0.89%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Sweden closed higher.

Iceland drifted lower, while Turkey ended flat.

In the UK market, Scottish Mortgage surged up 5%, Next gained 4.5% and Dechra Pharmaceuticals climbed 3.4%. JD Sports Fashion, Fresnillo, Aveva Group, Flutter Entertainment, Phoenix Group Holdings, Melrose Industries, Entain, Royal Mail and Rio Tinto gained 2 to 3%.

Reckitt Benckiser, Vodafone Group, Diageo and Croda International declined 1 to 1.4%.

In Paris, Saint Gobain and Capgemini both gained more than 3%. Kering, Schneider Electric, Teleperformance, AXA, Engie, Sanofi, Dassault Systemes, STMicroElectronics, WorldLine, Atos, Carrefour and LVMH gained 1 to 2.3%.

Technip, Safran, Renault and Pernod Ricard ended lower by 1 to 2%.

In the German market, Sartorius gained more than 5%. Adidas climbed 4.3% and Henkel moved up 3.75%. Zalando, Bayer, Infineon Technologies, HeidelbergCement and Deutsche Telekon gained 2 to 2.6%.

Shares of Delivery Hero rallied sharply after the German online food ordering company said it expects its food delivery business to break even during the second half of 2022.

Evotec AG, a drug discovery and development company, surged 3.6% after saying it has expanded its neurodegeneration collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY) to include a new targeted protein degradation approach.

Holcim Group rallied 4% after the company said it has inked a deal to acquire French manufacturer of specialty building solutions PRB Group.

Construction chemicals maker Sika AG gained nearly 3% after reporting a 17.3% rise in 2021 sales.

In economic releases, U.K. retail sales grew 2.1% on a yearly basis in December despite the recent Omicron outbreak, data released by the British Retail Consortium revealed. For the whole year of 2021, retail sales were up 9.9%.