European stocks pushed firmly into record territory by midday on Tuesday, with miners on the rise driven by strong metal and oil prices and encouraging manufacturing data.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index extended morning gains, rising 1.06% to 451.5 points. Regional bourses followed suit were in positive territory, with Germany’s DAX outperforming, up 1.45%.
Investors were cheered by data showing Eurozone factory activity accelerated slightly further last month as growth in manufacturing in Italy and Spain picked up.
IHS Markit’s euro area manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index rose from a reading of 62.9 at the end of April to 62.8 in May.
In equity news, miners were on the rise, with Anglo American, BHP, Rio Tinto and Glencore all up on the back of higher commodity prices.
BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total also gained as Brent crude futures topped $70 per barrel on growing optimism over fuel demand outlook.
Shares in luxury car maker Porsche, owned by Volkswagen, gained almost 5% after a report on Monday the Porsche and Piech families were prepared to take a direct stake in the brand if the sports-car unit is separately listed.
Such a move would loosen the families’ grip on VW Group in favour of direct ownership of the Porsche brand, which dates back to 1931 and was founded by Ferdinand Porsche.
Speculation about a listing of the unit earlier this year included estimates of a standalone valuation of Porsche ranging from 45bn – 90bn, compared with 135bn for VW Group.
Fellow German carmaker Daimler rose after it agreed to buy 3G and 4G licences directly from Nokia, closing a long-running intellectual property dispute over royalties for key technologies.
Warsaw-listed CD Projekt SA fell after quarterly profit fell by more than half as its flagship game, “Cyberpunk 2077,” was kept off Sony’s PlayStation Store.
