European Shares Grow as Pound Sterling Continues Fall

By Investors Hub

European stocks have moved higher on Wednesday as the dollar firmed up on speculation over next Fed Chair, China pledged to deepen economic and financial reforms, and a survey showed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s coalition is on track for a roughly two-thirds majority in Sunday’s general election.

The pound continued to fall following comments from the new Bank of England deputy governor that he was not close to voting for an interest rate hike because there is no sign of second-round effects on wages from higher recent inflation.

Meanwhile, there was little reaction to the unemployment data, which showed that the U.K. jobless rate held steady at the lowest level since 1975. The ILO jobless rate came in at 4.3 percent in three months to August, matching expectations.

While the French CAC 40 Index has advanced by 0.6 percent, the German DAX Index and the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index are up by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

DS Smith shares have climbed after the packaging specialist said it would acquire Romania-based EcoPack and EcoPaper for an enterprise value of about 208 million euros.

Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASML Holding has also moved to the upside after the firm reported higher profits in its third quarter and maintained its forecast for higher sales in fiscal 2017.

Meanwhile, Akzo Nobel shares have declined after the Dutch paint maker issued another profit warning after reporting lower-than-expected third quarter earnings, impacted by unfavourable currencies and margin pressure from raw material cost inflation.

German online retailer Zalando has also moved lower after the company warned that it may post a pretax loss in the third quarter.

French aerial work platform manufacturer Haulotte group has slumped after posting slower sales growth for its third quarter. British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has also declined following its announcement that it was cutting 2,000 jobs.