European Stocks Close On Strong Note

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a firm note on Monday as data showing a stronger than expected pace of expansion of the Chinese economy in the fourth quarter, and the Chinese central bank's decision to cut interest rate helped underpin sentiment.

Investors also continued to track updates about the surge in coronavirus cases across the world, and reacted to earnings reports and other corporate news.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.7%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 surged up 0.91%, Germany's DAX advanced 0.32% and France's CAC 40 gained 0.82%, while Switzerland's SMI gained 0.86%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.

Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Poland and Russia drifted lower, while Belgium and Portugal ended flat.

In the UK market, Taylor Wimpey gained 4.2% after saying its 2021 performance has been in line with expectation.

GlaxoSmithKline gained more than 3% after confirming that it had rejected Unilever's 50-billion-pound offer for its consumer healthcare business, saying it undervalued the business. Shares of Unilever plunged nearly 7%.

Admiral Group, Antofagasta, Informa, British American Tobacco, Reckitt Benckiser and Land Securities gained 3 to 4%.

BP shares gained after the company said that it has signed two agreements with the Omani government to support the potential development of a multiple gigawatt, renewable energy, and green hydrogen development facility in Oman, by 2030.

AstraZeneca saw some buying. The drug maker and Japan's Daiichi Sankyo said that their supplemental Biologics License Application seeking approval of Enhertu for patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer treated with a prior anti-HER2-based regimen has been accepted for priority review by the FDA.

In the French market, Atos rallied nearly 6.5%. Hermes International climbed more than 3.5%. CapGemini, Faurecia, Kering, Essilor, Publicis Groupe, Sanofi, Valeo, Pernod Ricard, LVMH, STMicroElectronics, L'Oreal and Thales gained 1.5 to 3%.

Renault gained more than 1.5% . The Group reported 2021 worldwide sales of 2,696,401 vehicles, down 4.5 percent from previous year.

Technip shares declined more than 1%.

In Germany, Fresenius Medical Care and Qiagen both gained about 2.8%. Brenntag, SAP and Merck advanced 1.4 to 2%.

Henkel declined 2.8%, while HelloFresh and Deutsche Wohnen shed about 1.4% and 1.25%, respectively.

In economic news, UK house prices increased in January at the fastest pace since 2016 with the highest ever number of Boxing Day sellers coming to the market and the surge in the number of prospective buyers enquiries, data from the property website Rightmove showed.

House prices grew 7.6% on a yearly basis in January, following a 6.3% rise in December. This was the highest annual rate of price growth recorded by Rightmove since May 2016. On a monthly basis, house prices gained 0.3% in January, in contrast to the 0.7% fall in December.

In news from China, the country's gross domestic product grew 4% in the fourth-quarter on a yearly basis, slower than the 4.9% expansion posted in the preceding quarter, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed Monday. However, the pace of growth was bigger than the economists' forecast of 3.6%. On a quarterly basis, China's GDP advanced 1.6% versus the expected growth of 1.1%.

The People's Bank of China on Monday lowered the one-year medium lending facility rate to 2.85% from 2.95% and the 7-day reverse repo rate to 2.1% from 2.2%.