European stocks on Friday scaled fresh one-month highs, wrapping up a brutal month on a positive note as investors took comfort from Chinese and US willingness to return to trade talks.
The pan-European STOXX 600 on Friday rose 2.74 points, or 0.7 percent, to 379.48, its highest level since Aug. 2 and a surge of 2.2 percent from a close of 371.36 on Aug. 23, building on the previous day’s rally after China and the US indicated that they were discussing the next round of negotiations this month.
Commodity-linked stocks sensitive to tariffs rose 2.5 percent, automakers 1 percent and technology stocks gained 0.9 percent.
“The trade situation is still tense, but in the meantime traders are happy to buy back into the stock markets,” CMC Markets analyst David Madden said in London. “Although things can change very quickly, so far it looks like we are heading into September on a somewhat optimistic note in relation to US-China trade talks.”
The real-estate sector jumped 2 percent and was set to post its best day since October last year, as German real-estate companies gained after a report said that a rent freeze in Berlin could be watered down.
German real-estate firms Deutsche Wohnen SE, Vonovia SE and LEG Immobilien AG rose between 4 percent and 9 percent.
Britain’s FTSE 100 on Friday ended the day up 22.86 points, or 0.3 percent, at 7,207.18, rising 1.6 percent from 7,094.98 a week earlier, but just shy of having its worst month in four years as sterling’s recovery, the US-China trade spat and a sharp drop in mining stocks took its toll on the export-heavy index.
Most European indices last month racked up losses, except for Denmark, Romania and Switzerland, as an inversion in the US Treasury yield curve exacerbated concerns about economic growth in the face of the US-China trade war.
Italy’s FTSE MIB, the best-performing eurozone stock index last month, fell short of recording a monthly gain after the Five-Star Movement unsettled potential coalition partner the Democratic Party with tough terms.
Milan shares had rallied this week on growing optimism about a new coalition government at the center, weeks after Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini pulled support from a coalition arrangement that formed Rome’s central government.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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