INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
LONDON: A strong rise across autos boosted European shares on Thursday, as hopes over a softening in US trade rhetoric lifted the sector,
though trading remained cautious ahead of a US deadline to impose tariffs on Chinese goods.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.4 per
cent by 0859 GMT, while Germany's exporter-heavy DAX rose 1 per cent, supported by autos.
European stocks have traded in a narrow range
this week in anticipation of US tariffs on $34 billion of Chinese imports set to go into effect on Friday.
Sectors which have been
particularly hit by the uncertainty over the trade rift made some headway on Thursday, with autos jumping 3.2 per cent, while basic
resources rose 1.3 per cent and banks were up 1.1 per cent.
German autos BMW, Daimler, Porsche and Volkswagen were among the biggest STOXX
risers, up as much as 4.7 per cent following a report about a US offer to suspend threats to impose tariffs on cars imported from the
European Union.
"The damage potentially may have already been done with some of these downturns, with some of these stocks, and now is a
good time to make a few value plays under the assumption that these trade tariffs might not actually come to fruition," Jasper Reimers,
market analyst at Vertex Capital Group, said.
"With the deadline tomorrow for trade tariffs, there's clearly a lot of buying into this
market at the moment."
Autos have struggled in 2018 and remain down 8 per cent for the year, among the worst-performing sectors in
Europe.
Europe's tech sector, which came under pressure in the previous session after a Chinese court banned US peer Micron selling chips,
regained ground with a 1 per cent rise.
Elsewhere, company updates were in focus
Shares in France's Sodexo were one of the biggest STOXX 600 gainers, up 5.2 per cent after the food services and facilities management
group maintained its full-year goals despite posting slower third-quarter sales growth.
However, shares in Primark-owner Associated British
Foods slid around 5 per cent after the company warned again on the outlook for its sugar business, though it maintained its overall guidance
for the full-year.
SBM Offshore was the biggest faller, down nearly 7 per cent after a Brazilian court ordered Petrobras to provisionally
withhold some payments to SBM to ensure the Dutch company paid whatever penalties it received in a corruption case
