Jan 4 (Reuters) – European equity markets extended their gains on Wednesday as a lower inflation reading from France boosted sentiment as investors awaited euro zone business data and minutes from the last meeting of the United States Federal Reserve.
The pan-European STOXX 600 index was up 0.5% by 0808 GMT, while France’s CAC 40 index added 0.8%.
Preliminary data showed that inflation in France eased in December from the previous month’s record high, adding to a series of encouraging data this week, from improving euro zone manufacturing figures to slowing inflation. in Germany.
The index is up 2.7% in the first trading week of the year.
Focus is on euro zone business activity figures for December, due to be released at 0900 GMT, after last month’s data showed a decline for the fifth straight month in November, suggesting the bloc was going into recession.
Investors are also awaiting the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting, looking for clues about the tightening path of the central bank’s monetary policy.
Sanofi rose after the French healthcare company said it expects its fourth-quarter results, due to be released early next month, to reflect momentum in currency movements and sales of flu vaccines.
(Reporting by Bansari Mayur Kamdar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi, Editing in Spanish by José Muñoz in the Gdańsk newsroom)
