LONDON: Strength among commodity firms and banking stocks as well as a string of solid updates boosted European shares in early deals on Tuesday. Earnings season remains front and center for equities investors though focus will also be on the two-day U.S. Federal Reserve meeting which gets underway later in the day.The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.3 per cent, bolstered by strength in mining firms and banks while blue chips gained 0.4 per cent.Germany's DAX rose 0.1 per cent, and the commodity-heavy FTSE 100 was up 0.5 per cent.Corporate results season gathered steam with British property developer Segro and business media group Informa leading STOXX risers after well-received first-half updates, both gaining around 4.5 per cent. Europe 's tech sector was also buoyant after iPhone supplier AMS raised its mid-term revenue target, while computer peripherals and mobile speaker maker Logitech also raised its outlook.Dutch paints maker Akzo Nobel was one of the biggest individual drags on the STOXX, however, falling 1.3 per cent after its second quarter profit missed forecasts. Updates also weighed on paper maker UPM, chemicals firm Croda International, chocolate-maker Lindt & Spruengli and Domino's Pizza, which all fell between 3 per cent to 6.5 per cent.While it is still early days for the European second quarter earnings season as only 20 per cent of firms have given updates, more than half of those firms have beaten analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.European deal-making also rolled on with U.S. retailer Michael Kors agreeing to buy luxury shoemaker Jimmy Choo for $1.2 billion, sending Jimmy Choo's shares up 16.8 per cent to an all-time high.

Source: Economic Times July 25, 2017 08:03 UTC