ROME: European stocks finished higher Friday, handing the market’s benchmark a small weekly gain, but shares in consumer-goods maker Nestlé SA and luxury fashion company Hugo Boss AG fell after they lowered their financial outlooks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 SXXP, +0.59% rose 0.6% to end at 363.13. Friday’s gain helped give the pan-European benchmark a 0.1% rise for the week.
European stocks joined in a global advance, as Asian equities closed up Friday and U.S. stocks were on track for their second daily gain in a row.
“Positive momentum from Wall Street is making investors more confident in holding riskier assets. This is on the back of optimism that the Fed will stay accommodative with their monetary policy and will not rush to raise the interest rate irrespective of their economic data,” said Naeem Aslam, chief market analyst at AvaTrade, in a note.
On the national indexes, Germany’s DAX 30 DAX, +0.39% added 0.4% to finish at 10,104.43, and France’s CAC 40 PX1, +0.59% put on 0.6% to end at 4,702.79. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 UKX, +0.62% tacked on 0.6% to close at 6,378.04.
Movers: Standing out among losers in Europe were shares of Nestlé NESN, -1.86% They fell 1.9% after the Swiss food industry heavyweight cut its outlook for organic sales growth and posted a 2% decline in sales during the nine-months to September. Nestlé has had to confront problems including a food scare in India and a highly-valued Swiss franc.
“Given Nestlé have been hinting that growth should accelerate in [the second half] and it did have a weather boost from water and ice cream, this is a real disappointment and questions around the Nestlé model of 5%-6% organic growth will only increase,” said Société Générale analyst Warren Ackerman in a note.
At the same time, shares of Hugo Boss AG BOSS, -4.78% sank 11% for the Stoxx 600’s worst performance, after the German fashion company cut its full-year profit forecast on weaker sales in China.
