Major European Markets Close Modestly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Tuesday with investors continuing to digest quarterly earnings updates and reacting to the latest batch of economic data from the U.S. and Europe.

Concerns about escalating tensions over Russia's alleged build-up of troops at the Ukrainian border weighed on sentiment and limited markets' uptick. NATO has reportedly warned that it would be prepared to defend the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Traders also noted a key virtual summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping that saw both sides signaling a stabilization in the fraught relationship. However, there was no breakthrough on issues concerning both nations.

The pan European Stoxx 600 moved up 0.17%. Germany's DAX climbed 0.61% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.34%, while the U.K.'s FTSE 100 ended 0.34% down. Switzerland's SMI gained 0.32%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Finland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Sweden ended higher.

Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Portugal, Russia, Spain and Turkey closed weak, while Belgium and Ireland settled flat.

The euro was huddled at a 16-month low after European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde doubled down on her assessment that euro-area inflation will ease and conditions for a rate hike in 2022 are "very unlikely" to be met.

The British pound rose against its major counterparts as the nation's employment rose in the third quarter, easing worries about the labor market and fueling hopes for a rate hike by the Bank of England in December.

In the UK market, Vodafone Group shares climbed nearly 5% after the telecom giant raised its forecast for this year's free cash flow after reporting strong half-yearly performance.

Land Securities gained 3.7% after reporting a swing to half-year profit. British Land, Aveva Group and Intertek Group gained 2.8 to 3.7%. Diageo gained 2.2%. The beverage company said that it expects to grow its organic operating profit by 6-9 percent for fiscal 2023 to fiscal 2025.

Natwest Group, Royal Dutch Shell, ICP, Phoenix Group Holdings, Diageo, BT and Scottish Mortgage gained 1 to 1.8%.

Darktrace and AstraZeneca both ended lower by more than 4%. Sage Group and Associated British Foods both shed about 2.7%. GlaxoSmithKline, Tesco, Flutter Entertainment, Imperial Brands, Smiths Group, Severn Trent, IAG, United Utilities and Antofagasta also ended sharply lower.

Premier Foods slumped more than 4% after the food manufacturer reported a fall in pretax profit in the first half of fiscal 2022.

In the French market, Kering, Technip and Faurecia gained 4 to 5%. Valeo climbed nearly 4%, Unibail Rodamco and WorldLine both gained about 2.5%, while Renault, Michelin and LVMH moved up 1 to 1.6%.

Bouygues ended lower by 1.25% after the company reiterated its outlook after reporting a surge in its nine-month net profit.

Vivendi, Carrefour, Danone and Atos also ended notably lower.

In Germany, Qiagen gained nearly 5%. Continental, Siemens, Puma, Adidas and Henkel moved up 1.4 to 2.3%. Nordex Group shares gained about 4% after the company said it has received an order from Enerjisa Üretim -independent power plant operator in Turkey - to supply and install twelve N163/5.X turbines for the 68.4 MW Erciyes wind farm.

Dutch tech investor Prosus NV climbed 4.2% after it forecast higher profit for the first half of 2022.

In economic news, the UK unemployment rate declined in the third quarter, decreasing 0.5 percentage points on the quarter to 4.3%, the Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday. The expected rate was 4.4%.

At the same time, the employment rate increased 0.4 percentage points to 75.4%.

The euro area economy expanded at a slightly faster pace in the third quarter, as previously estimated, flash estimate from Eurostat showed.

Gross domestic product grew 2.2% from the prior quarter, when it was up 2.1%. The rate came in line with the estimate released on October 29.

On a yearly basis, economic growth slowed to 3.7% from 14.2% in the preceding period. The annual rate also matched the initial estimate.

The EU27 GDP advanced 2.1% on quarter, taking the annual growth to 3.9% in the third quarter.

Further, data showed that the number of employed persons in euro area rose 0.9% sequentially, faster than the 0.7% rise posted in the second quarter. Likewise, the annual growth improved to 2% from 1.9%.

France consumer price inflation accelerated as estimated in October, final data from the statistical office Insee revealed on Tuesday.

Consumer price inflation advanced to 2.6% in October from 2.2% in September. The rate matched the preliminary estimate published on October 29.

The increase in inflation resulted from the acceleration in energy prices to 20.2% from 14.9% and service prices growth to 1.8% from 1.4%.

Core inflation rose 1.4% from 1.3% in September, final data showed.

On a monthly basis, the consumer price index rose 0.4%, as estimated, reversing a 0.2% fall in September.