Europe open: Stocks edge higher as rate of increase in new coronavirus cases falls
Stocks on the Continent were edghing higher at the start of the week, with investors overcoming a sell-off in Chinese stocks, perhaps as the rate of growth in the number of new coronavirus infections worldwide fell.
Cboe FRM 20
16,738.71
16:29 23/04/24
Ingenico
€126.80
16:30 01/09/22
Ryanair Holdings (CDI)
€14.41
17:14 17/12/21
Travel & Leisure
7,686.36
16:59 23/04/24
Worldline Sa
1,110.50p
16:30 22/04/24
Nonetheless, when it came to the expected hit to the Chinese economy, Ian Shepherdson at Pantheon Macroeconomics said: "Some of the [economic] losses will be recovered in due course, but we have to expect a substantial net hit, especially in the services sector."
On the flip-side, Shepherdson cautioned that the data available on coronavirus cases was not necessarily very reliable and "we aren't epidemiologists".
Over the weekend, the death toll in China rose to 362 and the number of confirmed cases was nearly 17,400, with Chinese investors just back from the Lunar New Year holiday, sending the Shanghai Stock Exchange's composite index 7.72% lower on Monday to 2,746.61.
Against that backdrop, as of 1010 GMT, the Stoxx 600 was 0.30% higher to 411.45, alongside a 0.32% gain for the German Dax to 13,029.97, while the Cac-40 was up by 0.4% to 5,825.09.
Helping to steady nerves, Chinese authorities also acted to limit the fallout in financial markets, injecting cash into the country's financial system and lowering the so-called reverse repurchase rates.
World Health Organisation director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said there was no reason for any measures that "unnecessarily interfere with international travel and trade", although some City-based traders were wary regarding such confidence.
Shepherdson was expecting to see signs that the number of new cases was peaking over the next two to three weeks.
Ingenico SA was pacing gains on the Stoxx 600 after French rival Worldline SA agreed to pay €7.8bn to acquire it, marking the largest European aquisition year-to-date.
RyanAir Holdings was right behind as it posted a third-quarter net profit after tax of €88m versus a €66m loss in the same period a year ago.
Coronavirus aside, the focus at the start of the week was on global manufacturing with surveys out of both China and the euro area printing ahead of forecasts.
IHS Markit's factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 47.9 for January versus a reading of 46.3 for November (consensus: 47.8), with a similar gauge for China also edging past forecasts.
For later in the session, the key US ISM institute's factory sector Purchasing Managers' Index for January was scheduled for release at 1500 GMT.