European shares continued to hit record highs at the open on Tuesday after positive mood music from the US-China leaders meeting and strong corporate earnings.
The pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.35% in early deals, taking it within touching distance of 489 points. Investors were cheered by the three-hour meeting between US President Joe Biden and his China counterpart Xi Jinping.
Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 also pushed into new high territory.
Sentiment was also helped by ECB President Christine Lagarde reiterated her pushback against expectations for tighter monetary policy. Investors will now turn their attention to euro area GDP figures, and a speech by Lagarde due later in the day.
In equity news, telecom giant Vodafone gained after strong quarterly results.
Shares in Dutch tech investor Prosus rose after the company forecast higher profit for the first half of 2022 as it gained proceeds to the tune of $12.3bn from selling part of its stake in Tencent.
Intermediate Capital Group shares rose as the company reported third-party assets under management of $65.35bn at the end of its first half on Tuesday, up 28% year-on-year as “strong momentum” continued across its three strategic objectives of fundraising, deployment and realisation.
Shares in Portugal’s Jerónimo Martins plunged after the Pingo Doce supermarket chain’s second largest shareholder Asteck sold its entire 5% stake in the company.
Asteck, which belongs to oil sector group Heerema, offered institutional investors 31.5m shares at €19.75 each, equivalent to €621.42m.
