Major European Markets Close Slightly Higher

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed higher on Monday, as encouraging economic data from China and continued optimism about earnings and growth helped offset concerns around high inflation and interest rate hikes.

However, gains were just modest in most of the markets in the region as worries about a rise new coronavirus cases weighed on sentiment.

Germany's coronavirus infection rate has risen to its highest level since the start of the pandemic, public health figures showed. In Austria, a nationwide lockdown has been imposed, effective today, for all all those unvaccinated against Covid-19, following a jump in infection rates.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.35%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 edged up 0.05%, Germany's DAX gained 0.34% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.53%. Switzerland's SMI ended flat.

Among other markets in Europe, Czech Republic, Iceland, Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Austria, Belgium, Greece, Ireland and Poland ended weak, while Denmark, Finland and Norway ended flat.

In the UK market, Avast climbed more than 7%. Royal Dutch Shell gained more than 2% after the oil major announced a proposal to simplify its share structure to increase the speed and flexibility of capital and portfolio actions.

London Stock Exchange Group, Standard Chartered, Royal Mail, Johnson Matthey, Admiral Group and AstraZeneca gained 1.9 to 3.2%. RightMove, M&G, Lloyds Banking Group and Burberry Group also closed notably higher.

Cineworld, the world's second-largest cinema chain, gained 7% after reporting an improvement in October box office revenue.

Aveva Group, Evraz, B&M European Value Retail and Darktrace ended lower by 2.3 to 2.8%. Rentokil Initial, BHP Group, Antofagasta, Informa and Glencore lost 1.7 to 2%.

In the French market, BNP Paribas gained more than 3% and WorldLine gained about 2.6%. Societe Generale, Engie, Bouygues and Hermes International gained 1.3 to 2%.

Airbus Group shares gained about 1.7% after the company notched a mega-order for 255 narrow-body jets at the Dubai Airshow.

ArcelorMittal, Faurecia, Technip, Unibail Rodamco, Viventi and Saint Gobain ended notably lower.

In Germany, Zalndo gained more than 4%. RWE gained nearly 3.5% and HelloFresh rallied 2.8%. Vonovia, Merck, Daimler, Continental, Deutsche Wohnen and Siemens also ended with impressive gains.

Shares of medical equipment maker Philips plunged more than 10%. The company, which is recalling ventilators due to use of parts containing potentially hazardous foam, announced it was in discussions with U.S. regulators following a new inspection of one of its facilities. The company is recalling

In Spain, BBVA shares declined 4% after the lender launched a 2.25 billion Euro bid that will give it full ownership of Turkish lender Garanti.

In economic news, the euro area trade surplus declined in September as exports dropped amid rising imports, data from Eurostat showed. The trade surplus dropped to a seasonally adjusted EUR 6.1 billion from EUR 9.7 billion in August.

Exports fell 0.4% on a monthly basis, while imports grew 1.5% in September. Year-on-year, exports and imports climbed 10% and 21.6%, respectively, in September.

As a result, the trade surplus totaled EUR 7.3 billion in September compared to EUR 24.1 billion in the same period last year. Economists had forecast the surplus to fall to EUR 6.5 billion.

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said Monday that the euro area inflation is to remain higher for longer than anticipated, but will moderate in coming months, and it was unlikely that interest rates would be raised next year.

"If energy prices keep rising or supply constraints persist, inflation may remain higher for longer than we currently anticipate," Lagarde said in a virtual hearing of economic and monetary affairs committee of the European Parliament.

"Overall, we continue to foresee inflation in the medium term remaining below our new symmetric two per cent target," she added.

Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics showed industrial production in the world's second largest economy expanded by 3.5% in October, while retail sales increased by an annual 4.9%, beating expectations.