Europe close: Stocks mostly higher ahead of US inflation report

European shares made a strong start to the week for the most part, as markets reopened after the Easter break with a strong performance in Asia and a rally overnight on Wall Street boosting sentiment.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.62% to 461.79 with nearly all major bourses higher alongside.

Spain's Ibex 35 was the exception, slipping by 0.80% to 9,236.70, dragged down by a decline in shares of Santander.

The mood was also helped by a Bloomberg report that Chinese authorities were preparing a $1.8trn push on infrastructure investment.

That served to lift the Stoxx 600 sector sub-index for Basic Resources companies by 3.48%.

Consumer price data released in China on Tuesday came in under forecasts, belying the tepid nature of the economic rebound according to analysts.

In other economic news, the International Monetary Fund lowered its forecast for euro area GDP growth in 2024 by two tenths of a percentage point to 1.4%, although that for 2023 was marked up by a tenth to 0.8%.

Worth noting, financial market participants were expectant ahead of the US CPI report due out the next day, even as the results of the National Federation of Independent Business's monthly survey appeared to point to the risk of a substantial slowdown in hiring for as soon as May.

There was little corporate news to drive markets. AstraZeneca, Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi) and Sanofi updated and simplified their agreements relating to the development and commercialisation of child respiratory disease drug nirsevimab in the US. Sobi shares gained on the news.

Glencore rose on reports that chief executive Gary Nagle plans to meet with some of Teck Resources' Canadian shareholders on Thursday to lobby them for support of its proposed takeover of the copper and zinc miner.

Shares in travel giant Tui fell despite Citi upgrading the stock to ‘neutral’ (high risk) from ‘sell’ (high risk) as it updated its model to reflect the rights issue, which taken with the lower share price since its last update, drives higher-than-expected dilution.

"With the stock having abruptly de-rated 22% since trading ex-rights we see valuation upside and upgrade," it said.