LONDON: Industrial and commodities-focused stocks made gains on Thursday as earnings and basic resource prices spurred them higher, while the main European indices declined, showing signs of fatigue after a two-day rally took them to six-week highs.Earnings dominated trading, with Swiss industrial equipment maker ABB and French electric components firm Schneider the biggest boosts to the pan-European STOXX 600 index.ABB rose 3.9 per cent after reporting first-quarter profit that beat expectations, while Schneider's profit beat sent its shares up 2 per cent.Another notable gainer was advertising group Publicis , rising 5.1 per cent after first-quarter sales beat forecasts.A surge in metals prices, after Russian sanctions sparked concerns over global supply, lifted the basic resources index up 0.3 per cent, having soared 4.3 per cent on Wednesday.Finnish steel firm Outokumpu gained 4.3 per cent, reflecting a rise in Japanese steelmakers overnight after a summit between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump produced no bad news on tariffs.Aluminium maker Norsk Hydro also rose 3 per cent.Overall the pan-European STOXX 600 held flat as a weaker healthcare sector outweighed gains in resources stocks.Results from consumer giants Nestle and Unilever failed to inspire investors.
Unilever declined 1.3 per cent after reporting a first-quarter in line with expectations.Nestle shares barely budged after the maker of Kit Kat chocolate confirmed its outlook and said volumes had picked up.Merger and acquisition news spurred some big share price moves.Weir Group shares jumped 6.2 per cent to the top of the STOXX after the firm agreed to acquire United States mining tools maker ESCO for $1.05 billion.In the struggling UK retail sector, department store group Debenhams saw its shares drop 10 per cent after cutting its dividend and warning on its full-year outlook for the second time in four months.