European shares end the week higher as bond yields slide on rate cut bets

Nov 17 (Reuters) – European shares rose on Friday, boosted by financials and healthcare, ending the week higher on growing optimism that central banks will aggressively cut interest rates next year.

The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX) rose 1.0%, ending the week 2.8% higher, as bond yields fell.

German government bond yields hit their lowest in more than two months, with money markets fully pricing in 100 basis point rate cuts by the European Central Bank by end-2024.

“When you’ve got growth slowing in the U.S., that’s increasing expectations that central banks around the world will be likely to follow suit,” said Giles Coghlan, chief market analyst at brokerage GCFX.

“With Europe’s growth prospects looking bleak, markets are only naturally starting to look for rate cuts.”

New data confirmed year-on-year inflation slowed sharply in the euro zone in October.

However, investors remained cautious about the impact of past rate hikes on economic growth and company earnings.

ECB policymaker Robert Holzmann repeated that the central bank must stand ready to raise interest rates again if necessary, and said he did not expect the ECB to start cutting rates in the second quarter as some think it will.

Fresh data showed British retail sales volumes fell unexpectedly in October, in a new warning sign for the economy.

Rate-sensitive real estate stocks (.SX86P) rose 1.7%.

Miners (.SXPP) were the top sectoral performers for the day and the week, lifted by firm copper prices as the U.S. dollar weakened.

Healthcare shares (.SXDP) gained 1.2%, with heavyweights AstraZeneca (AZN.L), Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO) and Sanofi (SASY.PA) rising between 0.9% and 2.3%.

The euro STOXX Volatility Index (.V2TX), fell to a more than four-month low, reflecting investor optimism.

UBS Group (UBSG.S) gained 3% supporting the financial services index (.SXFP), while banks <.SX7P> added 1.4%.

Italian asset manager Anima Holding (ANIM.MI) climbed 1.1% after signing a binding agreement to acquire all of smaller peer Kairos from Swiss private bank Julius Baer (BAER.S).

Teleperformance SE (TEPRF.PA) rose 1.2% after raising 1.4 billion euros of long-term bonds.

Limiting gains, Swedish automaker Volvo Cars (VOLCARb.ST) tanked 11.1% as majority shareholder China’s Geely (0175.HK) sold a small part of its stake at a deep discount to the previous day’s closing price.

Assicurazioni Generali (GASI.MI) dipped 0.6% after Italy’s top insurer reported a slightly worse-than-expected impact from natural disasters on nine-month results.

Investors also awaited a review of Italy’s ratings, although analysts see little risk that Moody’s will downgrade the country’s debt to junk status, a move that would likely jolt markets around Europe and beyond.

Italy’s FTSE MIB index (.FTMIB) was up 0.8%.

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