Europe close: Stocks rise on hopes for US-China trade talks

(Sharecast News) - European stocks finished mostly higher on Wednesday, reversing early losses after Bloomberg reported that Chinese authorities were open to trade talks with Washington - if certain conditions were met.

Overnight, the US had responded to China's decision to halt deliveries of Boeing jets and parts in the country with a ban on the sale of certain chips to Chinese customers by tech giant Nvidia.

That initially triggered some selling on both sides of the Atlantic.

Yet while the Stoxx 600 ended down 0.19% at 507.09, Germany's Dax added 0.27% to 21,311.02 and the FTSE Mib was up by 0.62% to 36,067.57.

Gold shone bright again on the back of the latest trade headlines, climbing by 3.15% to $3,342.30/oz..

"[Gold] might be the 'most crowded trade' according to Bank of America's latest survey, but so was 'Long Tech' for months at a time, and that didn't stop investors from piling in," said IG chief market analyst Chris Beauchamp.

"All this comes as inflation remains muted for now. It is the level of uncertainty in the macro outlook right now that makes gold so compelling."

In economic data, the annual rate of UK inflation eased more than expected in March, to 2.6% from 2.8% in February. "A bigger than expected drop in headline inflation should be celebrated, especially considering what households have had to deal with over the past few years," said Danni Hewson, AJ Bell's head of financial analysis.

Inflation across the eurozone also slowed in March, according to figures from Eurostat, with the annual growth in consumer prices falling to 2.2% from 2.3%, in line with economists' forecasts.

Looking ahead to Thursday, the European Central Bank was expected to cut interest rates again amid ongoing tariff-related uncertainty as downside risks to growth and inflation grow.

Market movers

UK-listed Bunzl dropped more than 25% after lowering its guidance for 2025 after a worse-than-expected start to the year, with profits down "significantly" in the first quarter due to a challenging economic backdrop.

ASML, the world's leading supplier of advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment, dropped 5% in Amsterdam after reporting weaker-than-expected orders for the first quarter, raising concerns about the impact of escalating US trade policies on the global chip industry.

London miners Antofagasta and Rio Tinto shook off earlier losses after issuing quarterly production updates. Antofagasta reported output improvements across all major commodity groups but warned of "significant volatility" in global markets, while Rio Tinto said that iron ore shipments would be at the lower end of guidance due to extreme weather in the first quarter.

Dutch brewer Heineken shares jumped after impressing with a 0.9% increase in organic net revenues in the first quarter, slightly ahead of forecasts, despite an uncertain consumer backdrop.