Europe midday: Shares hold gains after EZ retail sales, Sentix data

European shares made a strong start to the week as markets reopened after the Easter break with a strong performance in Asia and rally in the US boosting sentiment, while investors digested eurozone retail sales and confidence data.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.49% at 1030 GMT with all major bourses higher. The mood was also helped by a lower-than-expected reading on consumer price inflation from China.

CPI for March came in at 0.7% against expectations of a 1% rise year on year. The producer price index also fell 2.5% year-on-year, in line with forecasts after a decline of 1.4% in the previous month.

In economic news, eurozone retail sales fell in February, in line with consensus expectations, according to figures released on Tuesday by Eurostat.

Retail sales were down 0.8% on the month following a 0.8% increase in February. Automotive fuel sales were 1.8% lower, while sales of non-food products fell 0.7% and food, drink and tobacco sales declined 0.6%. On the year, sales fell 3% in February versus expectations of a 3.5% decline.

Investor sentiment in the eurozone improved more than expected in April, according to data released by Sentix. Its investor sentiment index rose to -8.7 from -11.1 in March, coming in above consensus expectations for a reading of -9.9.

The current situation index improved to -4.3 in April from -9.3 the month before, while the expectations gauge was unchanged at -13.0.

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.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com