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Europe close: Stocks extend recent gains, eye Q1 highs

By Alexander Bueso

Date: Thursday 30 Mar 2023

Europe close: Stocks extend recent gains, eye Q1 highs

(Sharecast News) - European shares extended gains on Thursday as traders apparently adopted a "no news is good news" approach to the latest round of banking misbehaviour and fashion chain H&M boosted sentiment with a surprise quarterly profit.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 1.03% to 454.84 with all major regional bourses higher.

Germany's Dax was up 1.26% to 15,522.40, alongside a 1.48% jump on the FTSE Mib to 18,907.74.

Euro/dollar also caught a bid, possibly due to market chatter regarding the possibility that the US jobs market might soon start showing signs of easing.

After two weeks of worry about whether the banking system could return to the dark days of 2008 in the wake of Silicon Valley Bank's collapse and the scandal-ridden Credit Suisse finally being put out of its misery, investors can now return to the long-running issue of how many more rate rises are needed by central banks to tame inflation.

In equity news, H&M shares surged 16% as the world's second largest fashion retailer posted a surprise first-quarter profits driven by its Sellpy second-hand platform.]

Poland's biggest e-commerce platform Allegro gained 2% after it said it expects core earnings to rise in the first quarter, as it focuses on cost control amid continuing economic uncertainty.

Shares in Martin Sorrell's S4 Capital tanked 7% after the advertising company's losses more than tripled in a year that was marred by accounting issues.

S4 Capital reported an operating loss of £135.3m for 2022, up from £42.1m the previous year, after a series of acquisitions that left the company with a huge wage bill and caused accounting issues.



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