By Retail Companies
Copyright qna
Brussels, September 10 (QNA) – European stocks rose on Wednesday, driven by gains in retail companies after Spain’s Inditex clothing company announced its second-quarter earnings. Novo Nordisk’s shares also increased following the announcement of restructuring steps including job cuts, which helped boost investor sentiment in European markets. The Stoxx 600 European index rose 0.4 percent to 554.9 points, hovering near a two-week high. The retail sector led gains among sub-sectors, rising by 2.2 percent, with Inditex’s shares up 6 percent, offsetting the impact of second-quarter sales that came in below expectations. Novo Nordisk’s shares also rose by two percent after the Danish company said it might reduce its workforce by up to 11.5 percent. The restructuring plan is expected to save about USD 1.26 billion annually as the company faces challenges in maintaining its competitiveness in the pharmaceutical market. European technology stocks also rose, with shares of Germany’s SAP software company and the Dutch company ASML each increasing by about one percent after Oracle predicted that the value of new cloud computing orders would exceed half a trillion dollars. (QNA)
