Market Analysis
European stocks showed slight gains on Thursday following optimistic forecasts from Nvidia, a leader in AI technology, which boosted global chipmakers. Investors were also awaiting business surveys to assess the economic outlook and potential interest rate adjustments in the euro zone.
The STOXX 600 index, reflecting European equities, rose by 0.2% as of 0711 GMT, with technology stocks leading the gains with a 1.2% increase.
European semiconductor companies like ASML, Infineon, and ASM saw their shares rise between 1.5% to 2.4% after Nvidia announced stronger-than-expected quarterly revenue, a stock split, and a substantial increase in its dividend.
Nvidia's shares climbed 6.5% in Frankfurt trading.
Later in the day, flash business surveys for the euro zone and the UK were expected to indicate a modest improvement in economic conditions for May.
Meanwhile, defensive sectors such as utilities and real estate lagged, with National Grid in Britain falling nearly 8% after announcing plans for a significant rights issue to raise around £7 billion ($8.9 billion).
The FTSE 100 in the UK was mostly unchanged after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's announcement of a general election scheduled for July 4.
Shares of Embracer declined by 7.2% after the Swedish games developer announced the departure of its CFO for personal reasons, alongside reporting fourth-quarter operating profit in line with market expectations.
Paraphrasing text from "Reuters" all rights reserved by the original author.