Europe midday: Shares hold gains on US rally; Ocado falls back

European shares held gains at midday on Wednesday, with sentiment boosted by strong US data overnight.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.46% with all major regional bourses higher. Germany’s DAX outperformed with a 0.7% rise as investors shrugged off survey data showing consumer confidence in Europe’s largest economy had fallen to its lowest level since last October.

Data in the US showed a rise in new orders for key U.-manufactured capital goods and heightened consumer confidence in June.

“Upbeat sentiment about signs of resilience for the mighty American economy is over-riding worries about China’s flagging recovery and fresh signals that another twist in the chip wars is set to emerge,” said Hargreaves Lansdown analyst Susannah Streeter.

“Reports that President Biden is considering slapping further export bans on AI chips headed for China dented the share price of Nvidia and AMD in after-hours trading.”

Eyes will also be on a meeting of central bank policymakers at the European Central Bank forum in Portugal including ECB chief Christine Lagarde, Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda.

In equity news, French supermarket chain Carrefour gained 3.1% after Morgan Stanley initiated coverage with an ‘overweight’ rating.

Ocado shares were sharply lower a day after surging on takeover speculation and news that a fund backed by Italy's Agnelli family had taken a stake in the online grocer and warehouse technology company.

Reporting by Frank Prenesti for Sharecast.com