European Stocks Close Higher On China Stimulus, UK Retail Sales Data

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Friday, rebounding from recent losses, due largely to traders indulging in some bargain hunting at several top counters despite persisting worries about inflation, slowing growth and looming interest rate hikes.

Encouraging data on UK retail sales for the month of April, and the People's Bank of China's decision to cut its key lending rates by a record quantum to spur growth helped lift sentiment to some extent.

Investors shrugged off separate data showing that confidence among British consumers fell in May to its lowest level in at least five decades.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.73%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 1.19%, Germany's DAX surged up 0.72% and France's CAC 40 advanced 0.2%, while Switzerland's SMI ended flat.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain closed higher.

Russia and Turkey ended weak, while Czech Republic and Sweden settled flat.

In the UK market, Royal Mail rallied more than 5%. St. James Place, 3I Group, ABRDN, Flutter Entertainment, Halma, Entain and ITV gained 3 to 4%.

Prudential, RS Group, Croda International, ICP, Schrodders, RightMove and BT Group surged up 2.5 to 3%.

Shares of British online retail group THG soared nearly 25% after rejecting a £2.07bn bid from two investment companies.

M&C Saatchi shares zoomed 30.3% after the advertising group agreed a takeover by consultancy Next Fifteen Communications.

Scottish Mortgage drifted down 3%. Sainsbury (J), Imperial Brands and B&M European Value Retail ended lower by 1.5 to 1.8%.

In Paris, Atos climbed more than 6%. Unibail Rodamco, Valeo, Veolia, Sanofi, Faurecia, Vivendi, Danone and Teleperformance gained 1 to 3.2%.

Air France-KLM shares moved up sharply after the Franco-Dutch airline said it has entered into exclusive discussions with Apollo for a 500-million euros capital injection into an affiliate owning spare engine.

LVMH ended more than 2% down. Hermes International, STMicroElectronics and Carrefour lost about 1.7%.

In the German market, Zalando gained about 3%. Merck, Porsche Automobil, Siemens, HelloFresh, Brenntag, Deutsche Boerse, Sartorius, SAP, Fresenius and Covestro gained 1.5 to 2.5%.

Deutsche Bank ended nearly 2% down. Munich RE shed about 1.1%, while Infineon Technologies, BMW, Deutsche Wohnen and and Deutsch Post ended modestly lower.

Swiss stock Richemont plunged nearly 13% the company said discussions about its "Luxury New Retail" partnership are "taking time".

In economic releases, preliminary figures from the statistical office Destatis showed earlier in the day that Germany's producer price inflation accelerated further in April to set a fresh record high.

The producer price index climbed 33.5% year-on-year following a 30.9% increase in March as energy prices continued to soar amid the war in Ukraine. Economists had forecast a 31.5% rise.

Elsewhere, data showed U.K. retail sales expanded 1.4% monthly in April, reversing a revised 1.2% decline in March. Sales were forecast to drop 0.2% in April.

Switzerland's industrial production rose in the first quarter of 2022, while construction output declined, the Federal Statistical Office reported on Friday. Industrial production grew 7.9% year-on-year in the first quarter, the report said.