(Reuters) – Energy and miners led European shares higher on the final day of a week marked by major central bank policy decisions, in which the U.S. Federal Reserve set the tone for market expectations about interest rate cuts being on the horizon.
The pan-European STOXX 600 was up 0.3% by 0805 GMT, on track for its fifth straight weekly advance.
The Fed signalled lower borrowing costs in 2024, while a host of Europe’s central banks stuck to plans to keep policy tight.
However, European Central Bank (ECB) policymaker Francois Villeroy de Galhau noted on Friday that its next move should be lowering rates. Barclays sees the ECB delivering its 25-basis-point cut in April and consecutive cuts in each policy meeting until January 2025.
Both miners and energy stocks gained over 1%, leading sectoral gains.
Swedish technology firm Sectra jumped 15.1% following second-quarter results.
Campari dropped 4.1% after the Italian spirits group announced its biggest ever acquisition to buy French cognac house Courvoisier for $1.2 billion.
(Reporting by Ankika Biswas in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)
