Europe close: Stocks end higher after Putin says he sees 'certain positive shifts'
European shares finished higher going into the weekend, helped by remarks from the Russian President to the effect that his diplomats had seen "certain positive shifts" in their talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey.
"It's a strange world where markets rally on comments from the Russian president, but that's what happened during the session today," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.
"Putin's hints that negotiations might be showing some progress was enough to engender a rally across markets, although some of the optimism has been trimmed."
The pan-European Stoxx 600 index was up 0.95% to 431.17, alongside a 1.38% gain for the German Dax to 13,628.11 while Spain's Ibex 35 added 0.90% to 8,142.1.
On the economic side of things, and according to the Office for National Statistics, the UK economy bounced back strongly in January after taking a hit from the Omicron variant and Plan B restrictions, but the outlook was less upbeat.
GDP grew 0.8% after contracting by 0.2% in December, coming in comfortably ahead of expectations of 0.1% growth. This leaves GDP 0.8% above pre-pandemic February 2020 levels.
As for the Continent, economists at Berenberg forecast that many European economies would stagnate over the first half of 2022 and might in fact shrink - particularly during the second quarter - while the outlook for the third quarter was "uncertain".
In equity news, Pearson shares surged by 18% after private equity outfit Apollo Global Management confirmed that it was in the early stages of evaluating a cash offer.
Apollo said there was no guarantee that any offer will be made or on which terms. The company is required to announce a firm intention within 28 days or announce that it does not plan an offer.
Shares in Italian defence company Leonardo were also near the top of the leaderboard for the benchmark index with a gain of 11% after it said increased European Union defence spending would boost cash flow.
EssilorLuxottica shares gained after the luxury eyewear group reported its best quarter of 2021 with all regions exceeding pre-pandemic sales.
Lanxess rose as the German speciality chemicals maker issued quarterly profit outlook above expectations.
Shares in UK online supermarket and technology group Ocado jumped after a patents infringement case against it brought by Norwegian warehouse robot maker AutoStore was rejected by the International Trade Commission.
On the downside, shares in Russian gold miner Polymetal resumed their slide, falling 12%, as Western sanctions began to bite and the board of compatriot steelmaker Evraz quit en-masse after major shareholder Roman Abramovich was also hit by financial measures.