TOKYO: European stocks advanced, rebounding from Thursday’s decline, as investors weighed company results.
Renault SA jumped 4.4 percent after saying quarterly sales rose 14 percent. AstraZeneca Plc declined 2.3 percent after posting lower first-quarter earnings.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.7 percent to 409.85 at 9:51 a.m. in London, heading for a 1.6 percent weekly advance. Shares extended gains as a gauge of German business confidence jumped to a 10-month high in April, beating forecasts. Stocks fell Thursday as data showed euro-area output grew at a slower pace in April, and Ericsson AB led technology shares lower.
“Yesterday, the market was a bit disappointed by the various PMIs, but on the other hand, the result season looks quite OK so far,” said Christian Zogg, who manages the equivalent of about $10 billion at LLB Asset Management AG in Vaduz, Liechtenstein. “So the market is just making up the losses during the week.”
The volume of Stoxx 600 shares changing hands was 20 percent higher than the 30-day average, data compiled by Bloomberg show. The equity benchmark index has surged 20 percent in 2015, and last reached a record on April 15. It rallied the first two days of this week as results from SAP SE and Actelion Ltd. topped analysts’ projections and China’s central bank boosted stimulus measures.
