The major European closed higher on Wednesday, with investors reacting to the U.K.'s budget announcement, earnings news and updates on coronavirus vaccination drive.
Higher yields on U.S. Treasury bonds limited upside in the major markets. Other markets in Europe closed on a mixed note.
The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note climbed past 1.47% today.
The pan European Stoxx 600 edged up 0.05%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 climbed 0.93%, Germany's DAX ended 0.29% up and France's CAC 40 gained 0.35%, while Switzerland's SMI slid 0.42%.
Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Russia, Sweden and Turkey closed higher.
Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway, Poland, Portugal and Spain ended weak, while Iceland and Netherlands settled flat.
In the UK market, Barratt Developments surged up more than 7%. Persimmon gained 6.8% despite reporting lower pretax profit and revenue in 2020.
BT Group, Taylor Wimpey, Whitebread, Melrose Insutries, Barclays Group, Flutter Entertainment, Legal & Generale, Lloyds Banking, Rolls-Royce Holdings, ICP, Berkeley Group Holdings, Smith DS, WPP and St. James Place gained 3 to 7%.
Polymetal shares gained about 1% after the company posted a record high net earnings of $1.1 billion in 2020 on stronger global prices for precious metals.
On the other hand, Avast, Scottish Mortgage, Severn Trent, National Grid, Rightmove, Croda International, Ocado Group and Just Eat Takeaway and United Utilities lost 2 to 3%.
In France, Renault rallied more than 5%. Valeo, Sodexo, Saint Gobain, Societe Generale, BNP Paribas, Credit Agricole, AXA, Michelin, Teleperformance and Bouygues gained 2 to 4.5%.
Engie, WorldLine, Veolia, Essilor, Danone, Sanofi and STMicroElectronics closed notably lower.
In the German market, Continental, BMW, Volkswagen, Thyssenkrupp, Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Munich RE, Daimler, HeidelbergCement and MTU Aero Engines gained 1.3 to 5.4%.
E.ON, Deutsche Wohnen, Linde, Merck, Infineon Technologies, RWE and Fresenius Medical Care declined sharply.
UK Chancellor Sunak, releasing the budget today, extended the furlough scheme till the end of September as he vowed to protect "the jobs and livelihoods of the British people".
Sunak, who said the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will continue with a fourth and a fifth grant, extended the business rates holiday in England by an additional three months. Retail, hospitality and leisure properties are thus exempted from paying business rates for three months from April 1.
Sunak also extended the temporary 5% reduced rate of VAT until September 30, 2021, thus benefiting 150,000 businesses in the tourism and hospitality sectors that employ around 2.4 million persons. Businesses will pay a 12.5% rate for a further six months, until March 31, 2022.
Sunak announced an extra GBP 1.65 billion to maintain the momentum of the roll-out of coronavirus vaccination in England. The government will invest a further GBP 50 million to boost the UK's vaccine testing capability.
Sunak raised Corporation Tax to 25%, but said the hike will not take effect until 2023.
In other economic news, the UK service sector output declined only moderately in February after a sharp downturn at the start of 2021, as the third national lockdown has caused limited damage to the economy, results of a closely watched survey showed on Wednesday.
The IHS Markit/Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply final services Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 49.5 in February from an eight-month low of 39.
IHS Markit's final February Composite Purchasing Managers' Index for the euro zone economy rose to 48.8 from January's 47.8, while the services PMI has been finalized at 45.7, up slightly from January's 45.4.
Eurozone producer prices remained stable in January, data from Eurostat showed. The producer prices index remained unchanged year-on-year in January, after a 1.1% fall in December. Economists had forecast a fall of 0.4%.
Switzerland's consumer price index decreased 0.5% year-on-year in February, same as seen a month earlier, data from the Federal Statistical Office showed. Economists had expected a 0.3% fall.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose 0.2% in February, following a 0.1% increase in the previous month. Economists had forecast a rise of 0.4%.
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