3 Minutes to Read (Click LIVE/ or type LIVE/ in a news window for a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK, and European financial markets.) * Economically sensitive companies lead early gains* Germany’s DAX rises ahead of inflation data* London midcaps increase as house prices rise* Rexel, a French company, raises its sales target for 2021. (Comments are added, and prices are updated.) Reuters, June 29 – Industrial and financial stocks jumped on Tuesday, as investors flocked to sectors that are expected to profit from a sustained economic recovery, while France’s Rexel rose after raising its sales projection for 2021. The French electrical parts supplier rose 3.2 percent to the top of the STOXX 600 index, and said it expects same-day sales growth of between 12 and 15 percent, up from its earlier prediction of 5 to 7 percent. The STOXX 600 index rose 0.5 percent across Europe, with gains ranging from 0.4 percent to 1.1 percent in industrials, banks, and retail. The European benchmark is on track for its sixth straight month of advances, but it has recently struggled to break above its all-time closing high set on June 16 due to fears over the global spread of the Delta version of the coronavirus. Following rumours of a probable ban on UK visitors in Germany, travel-related European equities stabilised on Tuesday after their worst day in more than a month, while Spain tightened travel controls for British tourists visiting the nation. “There are mounting concerns that the race between the vaccine and the virus is being lost,” CMC Markets UK’s chief market analyst Michael Hewson said. On Tuesday, the focus will be on euro zone economic morale, which is projected to increase from a three-year high reached last month as the economy reopened following coronavirus-induced lockdowns, albeit the data will not reflect the Delta variant’s current spread. Investors will be looking for consumer price inflation data from Germany around 1200 GMT, as rising inflation fears have dented the attraction of riskier assets this month. By 0811 GMT, the German stock market had gained 0.7 percent, outpacing its European counterparts. The FTSE 250 index in London gained 0.5 percent, while housebuilders gained 1.7 percent, after statistics on Tuesday showed British house prices rose by the most in over 16 years in June. After outperforming last week on the basis of the so-called reflation bet, mining equities were flat this week. Sagarika Jaisinghani contributed reporting from Bengaluru, and Shounak Dasgupta edited the piece. Continue reading
