European Stocks Close On Firm Note For 2nd Straight Day

(RTTNews) - European markets closed on a firm note on Wednesday, gaining for a second successive day, as investors picked up stocks, shrugging off concerns about Chinese real estate major Evergrande's debt woes, and looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement, due later in the day.

Data showing an improvement in Euro area consumer confidence in the month of September, and a report saying the German economy will likely grow faster than previously estimated aided sentiment.

The pan European Stoxx 600 gained 0.99%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged up 1.47%, Germany's DAX advanced 1.03% and France's CAC 40 climbed 1.29%, while Switzerland's SMI moved up 0.41%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed on firm note, while Czech Republic, Denmark and Greece ended flat.

In the UK market, Antofagasta gained nearly 7%. Entain climbed 5.1% benefiting from an announcement from the company that it has recieved a $22.4 billion takeover proposal from U.S.-based DraftKings.

Standard Chartered, HSBC Holdings, Prudential, Flutter Entertainment, Glencore, Anglo American Plc, Lloyds Banking Group, Barclays, Evraz, Natwest Group, Legal & General, ICP, Informa, Schrodders Plc and Ashtead Group gained 2 to 5%.

Severn Trent, Kingfisher, United Utilities, National Grid and AstraZeneca ended lower by 1 to 1.5%.

In the French market, Technip, Faurecia and ArcelorMittal gained 4.5 to 5%. Air France-KLM, Societe Generale, Renault, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, Publicis Groupe, Valeo, Kering, Schneider Electric, Airbus Group, Carrefour and Vivendi moved up 2 to 4%.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank, Daimler and BMW climbed 3 to 4%. HeidelbergCement, Porsche Automobil, Siemens, Munich RE, Airbus Group and Volkswagen gained 2 to 2.8%.

BASF, Bayer, Fresenius Medical Care, Vonovia and Covestro also closed notably higher, while HelloFresh, Zalando, Siemens Healthineers, Merck and Deutsche Post ended weak.

Preliminary data from the European Commission showed Euro area consumer confidence improved in September for the first time in three months. The DG ECFIN flash consumer confidence index for Eurozone rose to -4.0 from -5.3 in August, the data said. Economists had forecast further weakening in the measure to -5.8.

The consumer confidence index for the EU rose 1.1 points to -5.2 in September. That was also the first strengthening in three months. The indicator is above its pre-pandemic level in both regions, the commission said.

The Ifo Institute said in its autumn forecast that the German economy may grow faster than previously estimated next year, but trimmed its outlook for 2021 citing the impact of supply-side bottleneck on the manufacturing sector.

In its forecast, the think tank lifted its growth outlook for 2022 to 5.1% from 4.3%.

The faster growth is largely due to the low level of production of goods and services in 2021. In the course of 2022, the momentum of the overall economic recovery will decrease, ifo said.

The outlook for 2021 was downgraded to 2.5% from 3.3% as supply bottlenecks in manufacturing slowed overall recovery.

Data from Swiss National Bank showed Switzerland's current account surplus widened to CHF 10.51 billion in the June quarter of 2021, from CHF 3.21 billion in the same period last year.

The Swiss National Bank is scheduled to announce its rate decision on Thursday. The Bank of England's monetary policy announcement is also due tomorrow.

The Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting concludes this afternoon, and the central bank is scheduled to announce its policy at 2 PM ET.

Investors are looking ahead to the central bank's views on the likely timing of tapering of its bond-buying program, and the outlook on interest rates and inflation targets.