European Stocks Close On Firm Note On Peace Talks Hopes, Oil's Decline

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a strong note on Monday amid hopes the fresh round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine might help bring about a solution to the conflict between the two countries. A sharp drop in crude oil prices helped as well in lifting sentiment.

Talks between Russia and Ukraine, set to resume today, have been paused for now as the delegations are taking a break for clarifying certain terms. Talks are set to resume on Tuesday.

"There are certain positive shifts, negotiators on our side tell me," Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko on Friday.

Investors also looked ahead to the U.S. Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due on Wednesday.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.2%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 gained 0.53%, Germany's DAX soared 2.21%, France's CAC 40 surged up 1.75% and Switzerland's SMI moved up 1.59%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed with sharp to moderate gains.

Poland and Portugal ended weak, while Netherlands settled flat.

In the UK market, Smith (DS), Ferguson, Persimmon, Barclays, Smurfit Kappa Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Natwest Group and Associated British Foods gained 4 to 6%.

Melrose Industries, Kingfisher, CRH, ICP, M&G, IAG and Barratt Deveopments also moved up sharply.

Glencore declined nearly 6%. Anglo American Plc, Rio Tinto, Flutter Entertainment, Prudential, Scottish Mortgade, Shell, British American Tobacco, BAE Systems, Fresnillo and Antofagasta also declined sharply.

In the French market, Essilor, Danone, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, AXA, Vinci, Engie, Schneider Electric, Bouygues and Faureica gained 3 to 5%.

Air Liquide, Michelin, Saint Gobain, LO'real, Veolia, Vivendi, Hermes International, Kering, Capgemini, Sodexo and Unibail Rodamco gained 1.5 to 3%.

Thales shed about 2.5%. Accor, STMicroElectronics and Publicis Groupe also ended notably lower.

In Germany, Deutsche Bank soared more than 7%. Porsche Automobil, Deutsche Boerse, Volkswagen, Merck, E.ON, HeidelbergCement, MTU Aero Engines, Fresenius, Covestro and Allianz gained 3 to 5%.

Dutch tech investor Prosus, which owns a stake in China's Tencent, lost more than 10% as the relentless sell-off in Chinese technology stocks continued in Hong Kong on regulatory concerns.

On the economic front, Germany wholesale price inflation accelerated further in February on higher raw materials and intermediate product prices, data released by Destatis showed on Monday.

Wholesale price inflation advanced to 16.6% in February from 16.2% in January. Month-on-month, wholesale prices gained 1.7%, slower than the 2.3% increase in January. Economists had forecast a slower increase of 0.9%.

Destatis said the latest price developments related with Russia's attack on Ukraine are not contained in the results as wholesale prices were collected for reference date February 5, 2022.

France's trade deficit declined in January as the exports increased amid a fall in imports, data from the customs office revealed. The trade gap fell to EUR 8.03 billion from EUR 11.39 billion in December. In the same period last year, the shortfall was EUR 4.66 billion.

Exports climbed 6.9% on month, while imports decreased 0.6% in January. Year-on-year, exports advanced 16.3% and imports by 27.6%. .

Another report from the Bank of France showed that the current account deficit narrowed to EUR 1.8 billion in January from EUR 7.0 billion in December.

The Swiss economic growth is set to slow more than expected this year due to higher inflation and the Ukraine conflict, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, or SECO, said today.

According to the latest quarterly forecast, the expert group of SECO lowered the growth forecast for 2022 to 2.8% from 3%. Meanwhile, the projection for next year was maintained at 2%.