Miners lift European shares, but fall in Telecom Italia caps gains

1:30 pm Monday, February 20th, 2023

By Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar

(Reuters) – European shares inched higher on Monday, with sustained gains in miners on bets of a demand recovery in China offsetting a fall in industrials and shares of Telecom Italia.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index closed 0.1% higher ahead of a slew of economic data due later this week.

The basic resources index climbed 2.4% after prices of industrial metals rose on hopes of a recovery in demand from top consumer China and on support from global mining supply disruptions.

Global markets were bogged down for much of last week after hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data added to a growing pile of evidence that aggressive rate hikes have not yet cooled prices to the Federal Reserve’s satisfaction.

“It seems like a little bit of a of a pause to assess what’s going on and a lack of direction really,” said Daniela Hathorn, senior market analyst at Capital.com.

“We’re still not sure about everything that’s going on with the latest data showing that the U.S. economy might not be slowing as much as we thought. So, people are still trying to digest what that means.”

U.S. stock markets were shut on Monday for the Presidents’ Day holiday.

Industrials and rate-sensitive technology stocks slipped 0.3% and 0.6%, limiting gains on the STOXX 600.

Telecom Italia (TIM) fell 2.7% as a government-sponsored offer rivalling KKR’s bid for the former phone monopoly’s prized grid failed to materialise over the weekend.

The EURO STOXX index, which houses major companies in the eurozone, inched down 0.1%.

On the economic front, euro zone consumer confidence rose by 1.7 points in February from January, as expected, figures showed.

The Bundesbank said Germany’s economic prospects are improving after an unexpectedly resilient fourth quarter, with headline inflation also past its peak, even if underlying price growth will take longer to abate.

Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International fell nearly 7.3% after Reuters reported the United States’ sanctions authority launched an inquiry into the lender over its business related to Russia.

Forvia, the European car parts maker born from Faurecia’s takeover of Hella, forecast stable 2023 sales, sending Faurecia nearly 2.3% higher.

(Reporting by Shreyashi Sanyal and Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)