The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.6% on Thursday, mainly due to stocks of energy companies
The growth of energy stocks was caused by rising hopes in an early end to the Saudi-Russia oil price war. Yet, worries about the coronavirus pandemic still remain, and that disables growth of European shares. Royal Dutch Shell, Total SA and British Petroleum shares grew between 3% to 5%, and the wider energy index added up 3.7%.
But investors were rather reserved with other sectors’ shares. Even though STOXX 600 index slightly rose last week, it currently appears 25% under its record high. A certain level of nervousness was caused by a progress on the U.S. labor market. Jobless claims are expected to grow in 3.5 million till the end of March, while some estimates number of jobless people to be more than 5 million.
As a consequence, shares of Hays, one of the world’s biggest recruiters, dropped in 13% on Thursday. Unlike other European stock exchanges, London Stock Exchange slumped, when bank titles plunged in reaction to Bank of England’s suspension of dividend payments abroad.
