By Twesha Dikshit
(Reuters) -European shares hit a near five-month high on Friday, as investors drew support from a largely positive earnings season, while a meeting between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin was also in focus.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3%, as of 0853 GMT, driven by miners and chemical stocks <.SX4P>. The index was on track for a second week of gains.
Most major regional bourses were also in the green, with the UK’s FTSE 100 trading at record highs, Germany’s benchmark DAX at a one-month high and Spain’s IBEX and Italy’s FTSE MIB at their highest since 2007.
U.S. President Trump and his Russian counterpart Putin will meet later in the day in Alaska, with the U.S. hoping to seal a ceasefire agreement on Ukraine as well as negotiate a possible nuclear deal.
“Markets are waiting in particular for a ceasefire. There have been assumptions of that, leading to a certain outperformance of stocks that would benefit from a rebuild of Ukraine,” said Uwe Hohmann, equity strategist at Metzler Capital Markets, referring to sectors such as banks and construction materials.
Global stocks rose despite a spike in U.S. producer price data reining in expectations of a 50 basis point rate cut from the Federal Reserve next month and weak Chinese economic data pointing to tariff-related impacts.
European company earnings have proven resilient, with LSEG I/B/E/S data on Tuesday showing that 54% of companies reporting so far have beaten estimates.
Mining stocks were the top gainers on the day, adding 1.4%. Antofagasta rose 2% after the Chilean miner posted a jump in half-year core earnings on Thursday.
Anglo American and Glencore were both up more than 2%.
NKT jumped 7.6% after the Danish power cable solutions provider updated its full-year financial outlook.
The world’s biggest supplier of computer chip-making equipment ASML fell 1.8% after U.S. peer Applied Materials lowered its fourth-quarter earnings forecasts on weak demand in China and tariff-uncertainty related impacts.
The Dutch firm had issued a similar warning in mid-July, saying it might not achieve 2026 growth. Chip stocks BE Semiconductor and ASMI dropped 2.5% and 1.9%, respectively.
Pandora was the top laggard on STOXX 600, falling 13.2%, after the Danish jewellery maker flagged weakening sales in its key European markets.
(Reporting by Twesha Dikshit and Sruthi Shankar in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Eileen Soreng)
