By Shreyashi Sanyal

(Reuters) -European shares ended higher on Tuesday amid investor hopes the U.S. Federal Reserve was nearing the end of its interest rate hiking cycle and as China extended some policy measures to support its battered real estate sector.

The pan-European STOXX 600 ended 0.7% higher, rising for the third straight session. Irish stocks jumped 2.1%, leading the advance among its continental peers.

Irish stocks were boosted by gains in Kingspan which jumped 15.7% after forecasting record profit for the first half of the year. This also helped the European construction sub-index add 2.4%.

Miners were among top sectoral gainers in Europe, up 1.8% as metal prices rose on Beijing’s support for its property market.

China extended until the end of 2024 some policies in a November rescue package to shore up the real estate sector.

Shares of China-exposed luxury firms including LVMH, Hermes and Richemont rose between 2% and 2.3% while industrial stocks also sensitive to China advanced 1.0%.

Several Fed officials have signalled the U.S. central bank was nearing the end of its rate hiking cycle, with markets now awaiting key data on U.S. consumer prices due on Wednesday for more clarity on whether there has been a considerable slowdown in inflation.

“European markets have edged higher in anticipation that China’s efforts to support its property sector may translate into further measures to support a rebound in economic activity,” said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets.

“Trading activity however is somewhat subdued with the markets treading water to some extent ahead of tomorrow’s U.S. CPI numbers for June.”

However, UK’s FTSE 100 lagged other European bourses as a firm pound pressured the exporter-heavy index after data showed robust wage growth in Britain.

German investor morale clouded over in July, the ZEW economic research institute said, reporting a surprisingly sharp drop in its economic sentiment index to -14.7 points from -8.5 points in June.

“European macro indicators are coming in perhaps a little bit worse than expected, while U.S. macro indicators are a little bit better than expected,” said Richard Flax, chief investment officer at Moneyfarm.

Shares of Nordic Semiconductor rose 7.3% after the chipmaker beat second quarter earnings estimates.

Daimler Truck gained 2.5% after the German automaker raised its profit and revenue guidance on easing of supply chain constraints.

Mercedes-Benz Group shares rose 0.7% after sales in the second quarter rose 6% year-on-year on the back of demand for all-electric and top-end vehicles.

(Reporting by Matteo Allievi in Gdansk and Amruta Khandekar and Shreyashi Sanyal in Bangalore; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)

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