while the cross-continent Stoxx 600 was up by 1.5 per cent. The blue-chip Stoxx 50 added more than 1.7 per cent. Europeīuoyed by cooler than expected US inflation data, Europe’s main indices continued to gain momentum.

Shares in Antofagasta, Glencore and Rio Tinto all climbed. However, miners were the biggest sectoral gainers, climbing as metal prices advanced against a weak dollar. Virgin Money was among top gainers on both the mid-cap index and the pan-Europe Stoxx 600, adding more than 10 per cent. Shares in Lloyds, Barclays, NatWest and HSBC rose between 1.9 per cent and 3.4 per cent after the lenders passed the central bank’s latest stress test. The mid-cap FTSE 250, meanwhile, was ahead by more than 2.4 per cent on the session. Shares in Smurfit Kappa jumped 4.5 per cent to €32.93 as investors continued to build position in advance of the release of the cardboard box-maker’s half-year results on August 2nd.īritish banks helped propel the benchmark FTSE 100 index to a 1.9 per cent advance on Wednesday after the Bank of England concluded that the country’s top eight lenders are sufficiently resilient to withstand a severe economic downturn. It was “more or less a sea of green” in Dublin, traders said, with strongly positive moves from some of the biggest names on the bourse. DublinĪnother strong day for Irish shares saw the Iseq index rise 1.2 per cent on Wednesday, following up Tuesday’s 2.2 per cent gain. Excluding food and energy, the core CPI – which economists view as the better indicator of underlying inflation – advanced 4.8 per cent, also the lowest since 2021. The US consumer price index rose 3 per cent last month from a year ago, the smallest advance in more than two years, according to data out Wednesday from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. European shares extended gains on Wednesday as further evidence of easing consumer inflation in the US boosted hopes that the Federal Reserve could end its market-punishing interest rate hikes soon.

Inflation interactive game