European markets ended on a firm note on Tuesday, gaining for a second successive session, as investors continued to pick up stocks amid rising optimism about additional US stimulus and a likely momentum in vaccination rollout.
Investors were also betting on hopes top name companies will come out with encouraging earnings reports. Also, concerns about volatile retail trading subsided a bit.
The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 1.29%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 advanced 0.78%, Germany's DAX moved up 1.56% and France's CAC 40 gained 1.86%. Switzerland's SMI ended 0.59% up.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Turkey closed with strong gains.
Finland and Portugal edged up marginally, while Poland closed weak.
In the UK market, Intercontinental Hotels Group, Whitbread, IAG, Informa, Melrose, Barclays, Diageo, Pershing Square Holdings and Standard Life gained 3 to 6%.
Smiths Group, Intertek Group, Experian, Natwest Group, 3i Group, Bunzl, Ashtead Group, CRH and WPP also ended sharply higher.
Airlines stocks EasyJet and Ryanair Holding saw some brisk buying amid signs of the vaccination rollout picking up pace.
On the other hand, Fresnillo, BP, Pearson, Anglo American and Kingfisher declined sharply. Just Eat Takeaway ended lower after the company place 1.1 billion euros of convertible bonds, consisting of two tranches.
In the German market, Thyssenkrupp, MTU Aero Engines, Volkswagen, Adidas, Continental, Munich RE, Linde, Merck, Allianz, Siemens, BMW, HeidelbergCement, Lufthansa and Deutsche Bank ended with impressive gains.
In the French market, Airbus rallied more than 6.5%. Technip, Safran, Valeo, WorldLine, Accor, Hermes International, BNP Paribas, Societe Generale, LVMH, Teleperformance, Thales, Vinci and Credit Agricole gained 2.5 to 5.2%.
Fresenius Medical Care shares plunged more than 10% after the firm warned that profit will shrink this year. Fresnius SE, the parent company of Fresenius Medical, also ended sharply lower despite achieving its sales and net income guidance for 2020.
In economic news, UK house prices growth slowed in January for the first time in six months, data from the Nationwide Building Society showed. House prices climbed 6.4% on a yearly basis, but weaker than the 7.3% increase logged in December. Economists had forecast an annual growth of 6.9%.
On a monthly basis, house prices fell 0.3%, in contrast to a 0.9% rise seen in December and confounding expectations for an increase of 0.3%.
French consumer prices rose at the fastest pace in six months in January, provisional data from the statistical office Insee showed.
Consumer prices climbed 0.6% year-on-year in January, after staying flat in December. This was the fastest increase since July, when prices grew 0.8% and also bigger than the economists' forecast of 0.4%.
The euro area economy contracted in the fourth quarter after rebounding in the preceding three months, preliminary flash estimate published by Eurostat showed.
Gross domestic product fell 0.7% sequentially, in contrast to an increase of 12.4% logged in the third quarter. Economists had forecast a decline of 1%.
On a yearly basis, the economy shrank 5.1%, bigger than the 4.3% decline seen in the third quarter and economists' forecast of -5.4%. In the whole year of 2020, the euro area GDP was down 6.8%.
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