European stocks closed higher on Tuesday, extending their recent strong momentum on favorable inflation data and positive corporate developments for key sectors.
The Eurozone’s STOXX inched higher to 5,930 and the pan-European STOXX 600 rose 0.6% to 605, both at fresh records.
Semiconductor stocks led the gains as investors continued to assess whether high AI infrastructure expenditure will meet guidance in the next years, with Infineon, ASM, and STMicroelectronics gaining between 5% and 8%.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca gained 5% while Novartis and Roche gained 2.5% each to set the pace for the pharmaceutical sectors.
Meanwhile, bets that the ECB may deliver a rate cut this year gained some ground after both German and French inflation rates surprised to the downside in November.