Brussels, September 23 (QNA) – European stocks closed higher Tuesday, supported by a surge in luxury goods shares following increased spending in the US, and by a rise in wind energy shares following a US court ruling allowing Orsted to resume work on an offshore project.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index rose 0.4 percent, having earlier reached its highest level since Sep. 16. Most European exchanges also closed higher, while the Portuguese stock exchange climbed to its highest level in more than three weeks after the country achieved its budget surplus target for 2025, allowing it to continue reducing its debt ratio.

Luxury stocks, such as LVMH, L’Oréal, and Richemont, were among the top ten gainers on the index, while Bank of America card data showed an increase in luxury spending in the US for the first time in 37 months.

Shares of Danish offshore wind developer Orsted jumped 4% after a US federal judge ruled the company could resume work on a nearly completed wind farm project off the coast of Rhode Island.

The retail sector also rose about 2%, boosted by a 14.6% surge in home improvement firm Kingfisher after raising its full-year profit forecast. Irish building materials manufacturer Kingspan jumped 8.2% after announcing it would sell a 25% stake in its data center business to partially repay its debt.

Meanwhile, the broader technology index rose 0.6%, recovering from earlier losses following gains in tech stocks on Wall Street following Nvidia’s announcement that it would invest up to $100 billion in OpenAI and supply it with data center chips. (QNA)