European shares head higher on upbeat earnings

(Reuters) – European shares rose on Wednesday as a set of upbeat quarterly earnings reports from firms including SocGen helped boost optimism around a faster vaccine-led economic recovery this year.

France’s Societe Generale gained 2.9% after it beat profit forecasts for the fourth quarter, as charges related to the COVID-19 pandemic came in lower than expected.

The STOXX 600 index rose 0.3% with commodity-linked shares and banking stocks leading gains. Most European indices were higher in early trading.

Dutch Bank ABN Amro dropped 1.3% even as it reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter net profit.

German conglomerate Thyssenkrupp added 5.8% after it raised its full-year outlook citing improved demand, while online takeaway food company Delivery Hero was up 0.3% after reporting a 95% surge in full-year revenue.

German’s DAX rose 0.1%.

The world’s largest container shipping line Maersk was down 5.6% even after saying that a surge in demand for container shipping would boost earnings in the first quarter.

(Reporting by Shashank Nayar in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)