European stock markets opened slightly higher on Wednesday. Investors are excited about inflation figures, which can affect the monetary policy of central banks.
The main point of interest is the US consumer inflation to be announced in the afternoon. The British inflation figures announced in the morning were more moderate than expected. In December, prices rose by 0.3 percent from the previous month, when economists expected a 0.4 percent rise. Thus, the 12-month price increase remained at 2.5 percent, while the November reading and the economists’ forecast for December were 2.6 percent.
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, a more moderate than expected rise in prices leaves room for a reduction in the Bank of England’s key interest rate in February. In the market, long-term interest rates in Britain, in particular, were in a clear decline. Britain’s 10-year government bond rate was 6.9 percentage points lower at 4.816 percent. The corresponding interest rate in Germany was 2.2 percentage points lower at 2.626 percent.
The broad Stoxx 600 index was up 0.3 percent after about a quarter of an hour of trading. The companies in the real estate investment industry had the strongest increase of over 1 percent. The London Stock Exchange’s FTSE 100 was up 0.7 percent in the morning.
Source: www.arvopaperi.fi
