European shares held gains in choppy late morning trade on Tuesday with mining and travel stocks driving the market.
The pan-European Stoxx was up 0.4%, with the UK’s FTSE 100 outperforming, rising 0.71%.
Britain was expected to publish a so-called “green list” of countries that people can go to on holidays, sending shares in TUI, budget airline easyJet, Trainline, British Airways owner IAG and Aeroports de Paris higher.
“The catalyst for this latest move higher is chatter about a commodities supercycle with oil companies and miners higher as well as continuing optimism about the reopening of the global economy – with travel, retail and hospitality stocks also in demand,” said AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould.
“Inflation continues to be a fly in the ointment of the recovery – with signs of supply chain issues popping up in the latest readings of factory activity in the US and Germany and the price of lumber trading at a record high in Chicago.
In other equity news, shares in the world’s biggest jewellery maker Pandora topped the Stoxx after announcing it would no longer sell mined diamonds and will switch to exclusively laboratory-made diamonds and also reporting better-than-expected quarterly operating profit, fuelled by strong online sales and plans to push for sales growth in the US and China.
Dassault Aviation led the Stoxx with a 6% rise after Egypt’s defence ministry said it had signed a contract with France to buy 30 Rafale fighter jets.
Chipmaker Infineon fell 4.5% after chief executive Reinhard Ploss said he expected supply constraints in the automotive segment to only ease in the second half of this year, with lost volumes likely to be made up in 2022.
Shares in Meal-kit delivery company HelloFresh fell as worries about consumer behaviour, amid easing lockdowns, overshadowed a surge in first-quarter customer base.
Software company Teamviewer, fell 7% despite reporting quarterly orders and core profit ahead of expectations.
