Dec 17 (Reuters) – European shares climbed on Wednesday as gains in financial stocks helped stage a recovery from declines in the previous session, while investors await fresh economic signals to guide market direction.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3% at 581.26 as of 0810 GMT.
Major regional bourses followed the positive trend, with the UK’s FTSE 100 among the outperformers with a 0.8% rise.
British consumer price inflation fell unexpectedly sharply in November, data showed, prompting investors to add to bets for an interest rate cut on Thursday.
Banks were the biggest boost to the market, up 0.9% and trading close to levels last seen in 2008.
Commodity-linked stocks also traded higher, with energy firms jumping 1.2%, tracking a rise in oil prices after the U.S. ordered a blockade on sanctioned oil vehicles in Venezuela.
Mining stocks rose 0.8% after silver prices hit a record high and bullion prices also inched up.
Several monetary policy decisions are on the radar this week, including those by the European Central Bank (ECB), Sweden’s Riksbank, Bank of England, and Norway’s Norges Banks.
Among individual stocks, London-based Bunzl fell 7% to the bottom of the STOXX 600 after the business supplies distributor forecast a slight year-on-year drop in its 2026 operating margin.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur; Editing by Sonia Cheema)
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