Oct 2 (Reuters) – European shares hit a record high on Thursday, boosted by chip-related companies following an overnight rally on Wall Street, while heavyweight healthcare stocks also extended their rally from the previous session.
The pan-European STOXX 600 (.STOXX), opens new tab index gained 0.7% to 568.5 points by 0711 GMT, hitting an intraday record high. Most regional bourses also climbed, with Germany (.GDAXI), opens new tab leading gains with a 0.7% increase.
Sign up here.
Technology stocks (.SX8P), opens new tab added 2.3%, tracking overnight gains on Wall Street. Sentiment also got a boost after Korea’s Samsung Electronics (005930.KS), opens new tab and SK Hynix (000660.KS), opens new tab signed letters of intent to supply memory chips for OpenAI’s data centres.
ASML (ASML.AS), opens new tab and ASMI (ASMI.AS), opens new tab jumped more than 4% each, among the top STOXX gainers.
Healthcare stocks (.SXDP), opens new tab rose 1%, extending Wednesday’s rally when a U.S.-Pfizer deal on Tuesday helped reduce some uncertainty in the sector.
Autos (.SXAP), opens new tab also climbed 2.1%, boosted by a 3.2% gain in Ferrari (RACE.MI), opens new tab after HSBC upgraded its rating on the Italian carmaker to “buy” from “hold”.
Investors would also look for any developments on the U.S. government shutdown front, which is likely going to delay the release of crucial U.S. jobs data due later this week.
Reporting by Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru and Amir Orusov in Gdansk Editing by Tomasz Janowski