Europe: Shares rise as US spending boosts luxury stocks

EUROPEAN stocks touched their highest in more than a week on Tuesday, lifted by a rally in luxury goods companies on higher US spending and gains for wind energy stocks after a court ruled that Orsted could restart work on a US offshore project.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 0.28 per cent higher at 554.95 points, after having touched its highest since Sep 16 earlier in the session. Most regional bourses also closed higher.

Portugal stocks closed at their highest in more than three weeks after the country kept its budget surplus target for 2025, allowing it to continue reducing its debt ratio.

Meanwhile, luxury stocks such as LVMH, L’Oreal and Richemont were all among the top 10 gainers on the Stoxx. American luxury spending turned positive in September for the first time in 37 months, BofA card data showed.

Shares of Orsted jumped 4 per cent after a US federal judge ruled that the Danish offshore wind developer could restart work on a nearly finished wind farm project off the coast of Rhode Island.

“We take it as a favourable development,” said Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen, who has a favourable outlook on the clean energy sector.

Retailers climbed nearly 2 per cent, boosted by a 14.6 per cent surge in home improvement retailer Kingfisher after it raised its full-year profit outlook.

Ireland’s Kingspan Group jumped 8.2 per cent after announcing plans for an IPO of 25 per cent of its data centre unit ADVNSYS, which could leave the building materials maker debt-free.

The broader technology index rose 0.6 per cent, reversing early losses, following gains in Wall Street tech shares as Nvidia said it would invest up to US$100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data centre chips.

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European stocks, which outperformed US peers in early 2025 on defence-related gains, have since lagged as AI optimism lifted America’s tech giants.

The S&P 500 is up close to 14 per cent so far this year, compared with the Stoxx 600’s about 9.3 per cent gain.

The healthcare sub-index fell 1.2 per cent, snapping its longest daily winning streak in more than a month, with shares of drugmaker Roche and Novo Nordisk down more than 2 per cent each.

On the data front, euro zone growth held firm, buoyed by Germany’s fiscal firepower that helped offset France’s economic jitters, but storm clouds may be gathering as US tariffs begin to bite, key data showed on Tuesday.

France’s economy shrank over the same period, while British businesses reported waning momentum and confidence.

Bank of England chief economist Huw Pill struck a cautiously optimistic tone, saying he was more at ease with inflation prospects than earlier this year.

In Sweden, the central bank trimmed its policy rate to 1.75 per cent and signalled a prolonged pause ahead. Stockholm’s benchmark index closed up 0.7 per cent, after hitting a near one-month high. REUTERS