Europe close: Gains modest but Stoxx 600 and DAX 40 finish at record highs

Europe's Stoxx 600 index finished at another record high on Tuesday despite only modest gains, with markets driven higher by strong gains on Germany's DAX 40.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 rose 0.24% to a fresh closing peak of 511.09. On Monday, Goldman Sachs lifted its year-end prediction for the Stoxx 600 to 540 from 510.

Over in Frankfurt, the DAX 40 gained 0.67% to a new high of 18,384.35, which Axel Rudolph, senior market analyst at online trading platform IG, put down to its ongoing valuation discount.

"While US and European stock indices continue to grind higher, investors are still flocking to the German stock market which made yet another record high close to the 18,500 mark, buoyed by slightly improved German consumer morale."

Helping sentiment was the GfK/NIM consumer sentiment index which, while remaining in negative territory, rose slightly looking ahead to April to -27.4 from a revised -28.8 in March.

"The recovery in consumer sentiment is progressing slowly and very sluggishly," said Rolf Buerkl, NIM consumer expert.

"Real income growth and a stable labour market are in themselves very good prerequisites for a rapid recovery in the consumer economy, but consumers still lack planning security and optimism about the future."

A solid start on Wall Street was also fuelled by economic data, with US durable goods orders rising 1.4% in February, the S&P/Case-Shiller 20-City Composite index showing an acceleration in house-price growth, and US consumer confidence holding steady in March.

Market movers

Rubis was the biggest riser on the Stoxx 600, jumping over 12% after investment group Bolloré upped its stake in the transportation group to over 5%.

Ocado jumped 3% after the UK grocery delivery group reported that first-quarter retail revenue rose 10.6% year-on-year. Separate industry data from research firm Kantar also showed it was the fastest-growing grocer in the 12 weeks to March 17.

Also in London, Wood Group slumped 10% despite an upgrade to its current-year outlook, as the engineering company reported wider-than-expected losses and increased debt levels for 2023.