European Stock Market Concludes January on Bullish Note, Stoxx 600 Up 1.21%

UTC by Godfrey Benjamin · 3 min read
European Stock Market Concludes January on Bullish Note, Stoxx 600 Up 1.21%
Photo: Depositphotos

Beyond Europe, the outlook from other global markets is also impressive as investors go on an accumulating spree in order to par off some losses experienced all month.

January might be bearish for most global markets, however, European investors have chosen to push the stock market to new highs as the month is coming to an end. The STOXX Europe 600 (INDEXSTOXX: SXXP) was trading at 1.21% to 471.20, while the DAX PERFORMANCE INDEX (INDEXDB: DAX), featuring the 40 major German blue-chip companies trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange was trading at 1.58% to 15,560.44.

The European stock market is not without its struggles, with tensions rising at the Ukrainian-Russian border, a regional border conflict that has the tendency to impact the continent in no small measure. As of today, Russia is still a much-needed supplier of gas to the European Union, and any damning conflict can strain the supply chain of this natural gas in no small measure.

However, investors are choosing to look at the brighter picture, drawing on promising data releases on Monday including preliminary fourth-quarter GDP (gross domestic product) data for the eurozone and preliminary inflation data for January from Spain and Germany.

The FTSE 100 Index (INDEXFTSE: UKX) inked a growth of 0.29% to 7,488.00 while the CAC 40 (INDEXEURO: PX1), a benchmark French stock market index which represents a capitalization-weighted measure of the 40 most significant stocks among the 100 largest market caps on the Euronext Paris, also recorded a 0.89% surge to 7,027.71.

Per individual stocks in Europe, performances were mixed across the board. Swedish chemical manufacturing company, Hexpol AB (STO: HPOL-B) was amongst the biggest gainers, rising over 8.33% while co-Swedish paper production outfit, BillerudKorsnas AB (STO: BILL) printed a massive loss of 3.09% as analysts from Citigroup Inc (NYSE: C) were not optimistic about the stock, downgrading their price target on it.

European Stock Market and Global Market Outlook

Beyond Europe, the outlook from other global markets is also impressive as investors go on an accumulating spree in order to par off some losses experienced all month. While Chinese markets closed earlier on Monday for the Lunar Holidays, the Hang Seng Tech Index (INDEXHANGSENG: HSI) recorded a 1.07% growth to 23,802.26, while the Shanghai SSE Composite Index (SHA: 000001) slipped by 0.97% to 3,361.44.

The official data published on Sunday indicates that manufacturing activities in China slowed down in January with the Purchasing Managers’ Index for the month being pegged at 50.1, a point above the 50 level that separates growth from contraction. In the United States, the positive stock market trend is also showing forth with stock futures climbing higher on Sunday.

The US stock market is generally at an inflection point as the Federal Reserve is expected to start raising interest rates from March. Investors will need to prepare for these broad economic changes while also maintaining healthy investment activities across the board.

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