European Markets Close On Firm Note After Germany's Spending Plan Vote

(RTTNews) - European stocks closed on a firm note on Tuesday, after Germany's Bundestag approved a crucial fiscal package, with 513 votes going in favor of the bill, and 207 votes disapproving the bill.

The passage of the bill enables Germany's debt brake to permit increased spending on defense and creation of a 500 billion euros infrastructure and climate fund. The package, which is backed by the CDU/CSU, SPD and Greens, now await Budersat approval later in the week.

Data showing a sharp improvement in Germany's investor confidence contributed as well to the positive mood in European markets.

The meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin was also in focus.

The pan European Stoxx 600 climbed 0.61%. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 closed 0.29% up, Germany's DAX advanced 0.98% and France's CAC 40 ended 0.5% up. Switzerland's SMI edged up 0.03%.

Among other markets in Europe, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia and Spain closed higher.

Turkiye ended weak, while Netherlands and Sweden closed flat.

Automobile, bank, mining and energy stocks were among the major gainers in the session.

In the UK market, JD Sports Fashion rallied more than 4.5%. Standard Chartered, Natwest Group, Marks & Spencer, Airtel Africa, Barclays Group, IMI, Antofagasta, Next, St. James's Place and Endeavour Mining gained 2 to 4%.

Fresnillo, HSBC Holdings, Sainsbury (J), IAG, Melrose Industries, BT Group, Taylor Wimpey, Hikma Pharmaceuticals and BP also closed notably higher.

Games Workshop ended down nearly 3%. The Sage Group, Halma, Unilever, RightMove, Imperial Brands, Relx, Mondi, Auto Trader Group, Polar Capital Technology, IHG and Scottish Mortgage also closed notably lower.

In the German market, Rheinmetall rallied about 5%. Deutsche Bank and Bayer both closed higher by about 4.15%. Puma, Commerzbank, RWE, Daimler Truck Holding, Infineon, Mercedes-Benz, Symrise, BMW, BASF, Brenntag and Continental gained 1.3 to 3.6%.

Vonovia, Beiersdorf and Heidelberg Materials closed down 1.5 to 1.8%. Sartorius ended nearly 1% down.

In the French market, BNP Paribas climbed about 3.2%. Societe Generale and STMicroElectronics gained 2.5% each. Schneider Electric, AXA, Veolia Environment, ArcelorMittal, Credit Agricole, Pernod Ricard, Thales, Stellantis, Legrand and Renault closed higher by 1 to 2%.

Vivendi closed more than 2.5% down. Hermes International, Eurofins Scientific, Danone, Accor, Dassault Systemes and L'Oreal lost 0.9 to 1.6%.

Investor confidence in Germany improved sharply to the highest level in more than three years in March on strengthening expectations regarding fiscal policy, a closely watched survey published by think tank ZEW showed.

The ZEW Indicator of Economic Sentiment climbed to 51.6 in March from 26 in February. The last time this indicator posted such a substantial increase was in January 2023.

The reading hit the highest since February 2022 and was also well above economists' forecast of 43.6.

Sentiment concerning economic development in the euro area also strengthened in March. The economic sentiment index advanced 15.6 points to 39.8.

At the same time, the assessment of the current economic situation was quite stable. The index posted -45.2, which was up by 0.1 point from February.

The euro area trade surplus declined sharply in January as imports logged a notable growth, figures from Eurostat showed.

The trade surplus fell to EUR 1 billion in January from EUR 10.6 billion in the last year. The surplus totaled EUR 15.4 billion in December.

Exports moved up 3% annually, slightly faster than the 2.9% rise in December. Meanwhile, growth in imports accelerated to 7.6% from 3.6%.