By Paolo Laudani and Ankika Biswas
(Reuters) -Europe’s STOXX 600 climbed on Friday, as tech stocks made a strong comeback at the end of a bumpy week, while the European Central Bank’s rate cut and a flurry of corporate earnings set up the main stocks index for a second straight week of gains.
The Europe-wide STOXX 600 index was up 0.3% at 0840 GMT, shrugging off its initial sluggishness, with the tech stocks index jumping more than 2%.
That cut the weekly loss in tech stocks to 4%, but it remains the worst-performing sector this week after ASML’s weak 2025 sales forecast sparked a rout in chip stocks globally.
While the computer chip equipment maker’s shares were up 4.4% on the day, other chip stocks such as Soitec SA and BE Semiconductor Industries were up over 3% each.
Basic resources shares also climbed more than 2%, boosted by strong copper prices.
The broader luxury stocks index also rose 2% after a selloff earlier this week following LVMH’s weak third-quarter sales.
With LVMH and other luxury giants such as Gucci-owner Kering and Hermes rising 2%-3%, France’s main CAC 40 index outperformed regional bourses.
Switzerland’s Richemont, too, was up 5%.
Brunello Cucinelli rose 3.6% following the Italian luxury group’s strong nine-month revenue performance.
On the policy front, the ECB trimmed its interest rates to 3.25% on Thursday, and while President Christine Lagarde did not provide hints on future moves, sources told Reuters a fourth cut in December is likely unless key data turns south by then.
“If economic concerns were to intensify a bit more over the rest of the year and if the narrative goes more in this direction, the ECB will need to cut more because the economic outlook is at stake and that might deter equities,” said Diana Iovanel, senior economist at Capital Economics.
Among individual movers, Swedish truck maker Volvo rose 2%, after falling in early trade on the back of a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly adjusted operating profit and a forecast for roughly unchanged demand next year.
British American Tobacco said it is close to settling its Canadian tobacco litigation, sending shares down 2%.
Switzerland’s Avolta and Barry Callebaut were up 2%-3% after rating upgrades from Deutsche Bank and Morgan Stanley, respectively.
Elisa fell 6% after the Finnish telecom’s third-quarter revenue missed expectations, while Swedish medical equipment maker Getinge dropped 5% after third-quarter core earnings miss.
Meanwhile, Europe’s biggest debt collector Intrum said it will file for U.S. bankruptcy protection. Its shares were down 2.2%.
(Reporting by Paolo Laudani in Gdansk and Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Abinaya Vijayaraghavan and Savio D’Souza)
