Europe: Shares rise on energy, healthcare boost; tariff uncertainty lingers

EUROPEAN shares ended higher on Tuesday, boosted by healthcare and energy shares while investors assessed the latest phase of US President Donald Trump’s tariff rollouts, which included a new deadline for trade deals.

The pan-European Stoxx 600 index ended 0.41 per cent higher at 545.71, hitting its highest level in three weeks.

Other regional indexes also clocked gains, with Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 up about 0.5 per cent each.

German small caps also hit an all-time high on Tuesday, powered by a 20 per cent jump in steelmaker Salzgitter after Germany approved for military use the company’s Secure 500 steel product.

Heavyweight energy shares advanced 1.1 per cent on higher crude oil prices, and healthcare gained 0.8 per cent with Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, one of the biggest weights on the Stoxx 600, up 2 per cent.

In the latest in the tariff saga, Trump on Monday told 14 nations they would face tariffs ranging from 25 per cent for countries including Japan and South Korea, to 40 per cent for Laos and Myanmar.

However, with the start date pushed back to August 1, it effectively created a three-week window for countries to press for better terms, while prolonging damaging uncertainty about the terms of trade.

“Trump’s decision to push the tariff deadline to August 1 may have temporarily soothed market nerves, but the underlying uncertainty remains,” said Lukman Otunuga, senior market analyst at FXTM.

“If no meaningful trade deals are reached in the coming weeks, investors could brace for another wave of volatility.”

For Europe, EU sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday the bloc will not receive a letter from the United States setting out higher tariffs, and is eyeing possible exemptions from the US baseline levy of 10 per cent.

Countries have been under pressure to seal deals with the US after Trump launched a global trade war in April, which rattled financial markets and prompted policymakers to scramble to protect their economies.

For European equities, the Stoxx 600 has rebounded sharply from its April lows and now sits about 3 per cent away from its all-time highs seen in March.

On Monday, Swedish investment company Kinnevik climbed to the top of the Stoxx 600 with an 8.5 per cent rise after reporting a 2 per cent quarter-to-quarter growth in its second quarter net asset value.

The latest earnings forecasts showed the outlook for European corporate health has deteriorated, with companies expected to report a drop of 0.2 per cent year-on-year in second-quarter earnings, on average, according to LSEG I/B/E/S data.

The European earnings season will kick into gear next week, with the world’s biggest supplier of computer chip-making equipment ASML being the first of the heavyweights to report. REUTERS