Europe close: London, Paris and Frankfurt hit new highs as stocks rise

Europe stocks rose strongly again on Friday, with the Stoxx 600 setting yet another record high as benchmark indices in London, Paris and Frankfurt all finished at fresh peaks.

The Stoxx 600 gained 0.8% to a new high of 520.76, with broad-based gains across the continent, pushing the pan-European index up 2.9% on the week.

The FTSE 100 rose 0.6% to a new high of 8,433.87 on Friday, the CAC 40 gained 0.4% to 8,219.14 while the DAX 40 climbed 0.5% to 18,722.85.

Helping sentiment was data that showed that the UK economy exited a recession in the first quarter, with GDP growing by 0.6% from the preceding three months. That followed a contraction of 0.3% in the fourth quarter and was ahead of the 0.4% growth expected by economists.

"While we saw an initial bump for the pound, those gains have been tempered somewhat as traders attempt to gauge whether this strong data might drive a fresh bout of inflation pressures or temper the BoE’s desire to act swiftly," said Joshua Mahony, chief market analyst at Scope Markets.

With an absence of economic data from the rest of Europe on Friday, eyes turned to developments in the US after American consumer sentiment fell to a six-month low in May. The University of Michigan said people were worried that inflation, unemployment and interest rates may all be moving in an "unfavourable direction".

Meanwhile, Federal Reserve policymakers were continuing to push back against expectations for significant interest-rate cuts this year. Fed governor Michelle Bowman said the central bank must proceed "carefully and deliberately" to bring inflation down to the 2% target, while Dallas Fed president Lorie Logan said that it was "just too early to think about cutting rates".

Market movers

Irish builders merchant CRH rallied in London after saying it made a solid start to 2024 in the seasonally least significant quarter, with revenues rising on the back of positive pricing, early-season activity and favourable weather in key markets.

Swedish medtech group Getinge dropped 10% after the US Food and Drug Administration urged healthcare providers not to use some of its heart devices amid concerns they still pose a risk to users despite a previous recall.

UK property portal Rightmove fell despite reiterating annual revenue and profit guidance and upgrading customer growth expectations after a strong start to the year. The company did however say that average revenue per advertiser would be lower than previously thought.