PARIS: France's blue-chip index scaled record highs on Thursday, with a boost from Airbus and Pernod Ricard that also lifted the broader European STOXX 600 index to a one-year high.
France's CAC 40 at one point rose to 7,387.29 points, beating a lifetime high of 7,384.86 points reached on Jan 5, 2022. The index was last up 0.9%, leading gains among its regional peers.
French stocks have risen nearly 14% so far this year, following a battering in 2022, boosted by hopes that the euro zone will narrowly avoid a recession and surging shares of luxury goods groups that rely heavily on Chinese shoppers.
"France has particularly leveraged the faster-than-expected Chinese reopening," said Andrea Cicione, head of research at TS Lombard.
"The fact that there is significant chunk of consumer discretionary in there, particularly luxury goods as opposed to Germany for example, where consumer discretionary is mostly autos, is definitely a positive for France."
Planemaker Airbus gained 3.1%, also boosting the pan-Europe STOXX 600 index, which rose 0.4%.
Airbus targeted 2023 jet deliveries, in line with its original estimate for last year, but slowed the production ramp-up of its best-selling A320neo jets.
Positive sentiment also spilled over from Asian markets as investors choose to cheer strong US retail sales data as good news for earnings rather than worry about it being likely to support interest rate rises.
All eyes will now be on European Central Bank speakers through the day, with board member Fabio Panetta backing the case for raising interest rates in smaller increments and avoid committing to future moves as inflation in the euro zone falls.
European miners rose 0.7% as copper prices in London rebounded from five-week lows amid hopes for a demand recovery in top consumer China.
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Shares of Relx gained 2.5%, lifting European media stocks by 1.3%, as the British information and analytics company said it was using generative AI to supercharge its legal, health and science products and forecast strong growth in 2023.
London's FTSE 100 traded at 8,000 points to hit a record high.
Pernod Ricard gained 4% after the French drinks maker delivered forecast-beating first-half profit and sales, while UK's Standard Chartered reported a 28% rise in annual pretax profit and unveiled a new $1 billion share buyback programme, pushing its shares 2.4% higher.
Germany's Commerzbank jumped 8.3% on better-than-expected quarterly net profit, while French telecoms company Orange rose 5.6% as it said it expects to bolster cash flows and increase shareholder returns by 2025. -- Reuters
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