ROME: European stocks closed slightly higher Tuesday, as gains by Vodafone Group PLC VOD, +3.89% and Experian PLC helped to offset a drop by miners following disappointing Chinese data.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.10% rose 0.1% to end at 376.27, as the benchmark recovered a little from Monday’s 1.1% drop.
Vodafone Group PLC VOD, +3.89% shares popped up 3.9% after the mobile-network operator raised its full-year earnings forecast despite swinging to a first-half loss on infrastructure costs.
Vodafone’s gain had earlier helped lift the U.K.’s FTSE 100 UKX, -0.32% but the British blue-chips index eventually flipped into the red, finishing 0.3% lower at 6,275.28.
Shares in DCC PLC DCC, +8.22% closed up 8.2% as the distribution and logistics company posted a rise in first-half profit, while Experian PLC EXPN, +7.52% surged 7.5% after the consumer-credit checker pledged to return an additional $200 million to shareholders by extending its share buyback program, even as its first-half pretax profit was pressured by weaker revenue and increased finance costs.
Among mining stocks, Anglo American PLC AAL, -4.70% closed down 4.7%, Glencore PLC GLEN, -4.24% lost 4.2% and Sweden’s Boliden AB BOL, -1.42% gave up 1.4%.
The miners were hurt by a report showing consumer inflation in China slowed to a 1.3% rate in October. China is a major buyer of commodities, and slowing inflation is the latest indication that demand remains weak in the country. Read: ‘Limited room’ for global policy makers to respond to economic shocks, Moody’s warns
The inflation data “do not bode well for the continued decline in growth and trade numbers,” said Richard Perry, market analyst at Hantec Markets, in a note. Chinese industrial production and retail sales for China due Wednesday “will take on even more importance now and as continued deterioration could drive a flight to safety once more,” he said.
